Mark J. Podolsky walks through three mistakes that tank land deals: buying from someone who doesn't actually own the property, skipping zoning verification with the county, and not checking if taxes are paid. He gives the exact steps: use naco.org to find county contacts, pull the recorded deed, and confirm what you can legally build or use the land for.
Hi, Mark, the land geek here. Let's talk about those three fatal mistakes that I see the average real estate investor making every single day. First big mistake, you've got to call the county recorder and confirm that that seller owns the property. So what do you do? First of all, you find out exactly what county that property is located in. Then you quickly go on naco.org, that's www.naco.org that lists all the counties in the country. Do a quick search. You can do the state, you can do the county, whatever you want to do, but make sure you go there. Then all you need to do is, if you don't want to talk on the phone, you can email the recorder and simply ask, who owns this property? At this legal description, they'll email you back or they'll tell you it's Frontier Equity Properties llc. When was it recorded? And that gives you a good clue as to how long did that seller even own that property? Are they buying it for long term? Are they flipping it? What's going on with that property? Kind of gives you a little bit more of the story. Anyways, so now you've got that information, we're going to email our seller now and say, hey, can you fax me or email me a copy of your recorded deed for that property? When they do it, we're good to go. If it takes some time, a little sketchy, if they don't do it at all, don't buy the property. What I've seen is people go online and they can just easily copy now whatever ad is online and, and say, hey, that's my property. They can use a fake PayPal account or a fake escrow account and take people's money. The typical term for this is a phishing scam. That is the number one fatal mistake that I see people make. You've got to confirm that that seller owns that property. Otherwise who knows what you're getting into. Now there are situations where I've actually sold property under an option and that's a whole other ball game because I'm just controlling that. If that's the case, then you need to have a copy of the option agreement to see that they are controlling that property. Otherwise, look out, not a good thing at all. All right. Second most fatal mistake I see the average real estate investor making online is they get real excited about a property, they're going to build their dream home there, or they're going to put their RV on the property and they're just going to camp out and hang out six months out of the year or they're going to raise sheep, they're going to do something cool on that property, but they don't confirm with the county Planning and Zoning Commission if what they're in use for that property is allowed. And so they'll invest thousands of dollars ultimately to be disappointed. And 99.9% of the sellers out there, they don't guarantee that property. You're stuck with it. And now whatever dream you had to do on that property is wasted. And then you've got to go on and try to resell that property. And it's a whole hassle and just a big ball of disappointment. So what do you do? Like we did with the first mistake, we've got to contact the county Planning and Zoning Commission. We're going to go back to our website, www.naconaco.org. we're going to find our county and we're going to call or email Planning and Zoning. We're going to give them the legal description of that property along with an assessor's parcel number. And we're just going to ask our questions. What restrictions are on this property? What can I do on this property? Can I build a house? Can I raise sheep? Can I camp? Can I put an rv? All these things are very important when trying to determine the that your use for that property is allowed. So it's very, very important that you do that. The third most common fatal mistake I see buyers making every day and being really, really disappointed with their purchase is not calling the county treasurer to confirm that the taxes are paid current. This one is really something that I've seen time and time again bite people on the tush. So it's real, real important that again, we're going to go back to our site, www.naco.org n a c o. We're going to find our county treasurer and we're going to shoot them out an email, again with the legal description and assessor's parcel number. And that information you should be able to get from your seller very easily. And it should be on the ad. If it's not, you need to email your seller and get that information. And then you're simply going to confirm the taxes are paid current. If they're not paid current, you need to email your seller and ask them who's responsible for these back taxes. I assume you are. If they say, oh, you know, you're responsible for those back taxes, then you got a decision to make. Well, how much are they? If they're onerous, you know you're going to pass on that deal. They're reasonable, and you're getting it at a good price. Well, maybe pay the back taxes, big deal. But you want to know what they are. You certainly don't want to go into it blind and then be disappointed when six months later you get this crazy tax bill again. Try to contact your seller and say, hey, I thought this property was free and clear as you had advertised online. And they say, oh, well, you know, you got it for a good deal, or, you know, what are you complaining about? It was, you know, it's buyer beware. We didn't guarantee anything. There's nothing writing, you bought the property, blah, blah, blah, and you have no recourse except, you know, of course, never to buy from that seller again. But typically, if it's a large enough transaction, or even it's a small transaction, money's money. You've got to contact that county treasurer and confirm the back taxes, if there are any, and then contact your seller and see who's responsible for these back taxes. If they're free and clear and there's no issues, great. You've got a clean deal on your hands. But if there are, well, now we got a choice to make. But at least you now you know. So there you have it, the three fatal mistakes. Number one, not confirming if the seller even owns that property. Number two, you got to call planning and zoning, confirm that what you want to do on that property you can actually do. Number three, make sure there aren't any back taxes. Thanks a lot. Now, these are three of the fatal land mistakes I see people making every day. There's actually more. Seven more. I've got this bonus information coming to you, so be on the lookout for it. Thanks a lot.
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