We began buying Texas tax sale properties in 1992 and for several years acquired properties in other ways as well such as from HUD  and the VA.   At one time we were managing for ourselves and other investors and partners more than 200 properties.

In the years following the turn of the century, it became apparent that the economy was not doing as well as we would have liked and it turned out that we were about to enter into what was later called the “Great Recession”.

We felt that foreclosures were going to increase and the Texas tax sale foreclosures were going to be particularly beneficial for investors and an opportunity to help many of those who were about to lose their house.  We knew that many investors were aware of tax sales but very few really knew how they worked and the various nuances and intricacies inherent in them.

Our initial effort was to teach these things to investors.  While we felt that we were teaching more things in detail than available elsewhere, there was still something missing.  That was when we decided to actually mentor investors-take them by the hand and actually do the work with them.  While some did make some great purchases, the majority of students quickly became frustrated when, after a lot of work prior to the auctions, they found that their targeted properties were either withdrawn before the sale or they were outbid.

That was when we started to evolve into a service company.  We realized that no one was really teaching in depth about Texas tax sales.  Nor was anyone providing services covering the entire state.  What an opportunity!

To do those two things, some changes were necessary.  We started to close down our other real estate endeavors in order to devote the time necessary to fulfill our desire to become the source for tax sales in Texas for investors.

We had some logistical challenges that we needed to meet.  Things like how to be at different auctions at the same time and how to get funds to the different Texas auction sites when we were successful.  Some of our former students helped us overcome these situations by volunteering to represent us in other locations.  This eventually led to our LEARN AND EARN program where we train our PMs (Priority Members) to assist us and they are compensated if we are successful in the areas in which they participate.

Some investors got together and formed LLCs where they pooled their funds to buy properties and some purchased tax sales properties.  That turned out to be a great way to get to know how the tax sales worked with a smaller investment until they were comfortable enough to buy them individually.  It also was helpful to those with limited funds to build a diversified portfolio of partially owned properties.  These are still being done today with some of our investors forming their own entities and using our services.

One of the hurdles to be overcome was that we had to wait until close to the auction dates to complete all the research, evaluations, and viewing of the properties since so many were withdrawn from the sale as the first Tuesday grew closer.  This made it difficult for us to provide the information needed, send it to the PMs, wait for them to determine their bids and get back to us – all in time for us to deploy our resources in the counties where the bidding indications led us.  Additionally, it severely limited the number of counties and properties that we had time to effectively provide the data to our PMs.

This was limiting the number of properties that we could provide from which the PMs could choose, but remember that we are cautioned not to inspect the properties before bidding on them as it could be deemed trespassing.  That meant that there were several unknowns about the properties that we had to make educated guesses on that would affect our bid prices.  If we allowed too much for rehab, for example, our bids would be below others that did not allow that much.  If we did not allow enough, the total out of pocket costs would be higher which would reduce the cash flow on the property after rehab.

To deal with some of the challenges, we developed a Turnkey Program, available to our Priority Members (PM).  It was very popular but we found that the more counties that we pursued, the more time consuming our work became to find the potential properties, present the information and worksheets to evaluate the potential purchases, perform the lien searches, and then wait for bidding instructions from our PMs.  We had to increase the fee to become a PM so that we could provide what was needed to effectively service our Priority Members.  In turn, we wanted to increase the value of Priority membership.

After several sleepless nights, discussions, brainstorming sessions, and support from our spouses, we came up with  – THE TEXAS 2-STEP FOR TAX SALES.  Very simply, we would buy the houses first, rehab where necessary, rent up and then offer the cash-flowing properties to our PMs (Priority Members).  This would allow us to cover more counties, and allow our PMs to only consider purchases of properties that were already secured and the data on them known.

In order to know how many properties to try and purchase, a good faith deposit was required.  If a PM decided not to purchase any of the properties offered, the deposit was to be refunded.  The deposit was to be roughly 75% of what the PM was prepared to invest.

As the demand continued to grow, we established a division to concentrate on the re-sales and the strike-offs in order to secure more potential properties.  Additionally, we started to put more emphasis on rehab properties which had less competition.  We had continued to train more investors in other areas for the LEARN AND EARN program and started buying in counties in which we had not previously purchased.

The next adjustment was our securing a funding partner for the purchases that ELIMINATED our requiring a good faith deposit from our PMs.  Once that was accomplished, the Texas 2-Step came into being as a completely TURN-KEY program.

That was a very popular program but as the investors flocked to Texas over the next few years, prices shot up and the auctions in the metro areas became over-populated with incredible competition.  Our funding partner could no longer purchase the properties at a low enough price to make ends meet for them and to also offer good cash flow to our investors.  The margins were just too thin.

We started to concentrate on the other auctions not necessarily in the metro areas and found that to be worthwhile.  To be effective, however, we needed to be able to participate in many of these auctions on the same day.  To accomplish that, a new game plan was created.

In addition to our goal of attending many counties on tax sale day, the legislative change in regard to the county auctions was finally occurring.  One of the counties began to hold their auctions online.  We anticipated this and expected more counties to follow.  This presented an interesting scenario:

While it will undoubtedly lead to even more competition as the rest of the country outside of Texas discovers all the benefits of our tax sales, it also offers an opportunity.  Where will all these new investors to Texas (perhaps from all over the world and not just all over the country) get the information and the servicing necessary to be successful from afar?

Specifically, to find out every month which counties are having a sale, what their rules are, what the addresses are, what the necessary data is, what the properties look like today, what liens will remain, what the neighborhoods are like and perhaps more importantly-how will they handle the transition of the property when they win the bid?

Once the stampede begins, there may be data companies that will advertise how they can provide what is needed in terms of research, but what about everything else?  We decided we were in a unique position to have the necessary “boots on the ground” to be able to supply the whole package of services to investors-especially the ones not in Texas.

Thus, the full concentration formation of Tax Sales Services that provides all of the services necessary and can be ordered online by investors anywhere.  Our Priority Members are our “boots on the ground” to perform the services necessary in the counties.  We require them to be certified and trained by us and we share the revenue generated with them.

It has taken more than a couple of years but now in 2021, perhaps out of necessity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, more counties have started to go online with their tax sales.  As a result, we are now ready to be the source for anything and everything necessary to learn and to buy properties at the tax sales in Texas for investors not only in Texas but from anywhere in the world.

We have some exciting and exclusive things for our investors so please look at our website and feel free to contact us for more information.