Using GPS Coordinates to Find a Property

With the widespread availability of GPS (Global Positioning System) devices, an increasing number of our clients have inquired about the GPS waypoints — or center points and/or corners — of the approximate location of property. One of the services that we provide to our customers is the geographic coordinates of a property. This technology makes it easy for nearly anyone to access property. It is standard practice in the industry and is considered part of our customer service program here at Mission.

GPS devices use a system of satellites to accurately locate positions on the surface of the earth. The accuracy of any particular location varies and depends on many criterion: the model of GPS unit (usually directly related to cost); type of coordinate system employed; natural obstructions (trees, cliffs, mountains, etc.); geodetic datum used; electromagnetic interference; and a small level of scrambling by the government. Most commercial GPS units can accurately locate a specific point on the earth’s surface within at least 40 or 50 feet.

Latitude and Longitude Coordinates for the Centerpoint and Four Corners of a Property

 

GPS units use a variety of geographic coordinate systems to locate positions on the globe. Geographic coordinate systems are devised to map a 3-dimensional position on the globe to a 2-dimensional document. The most commonly known geographic coordinate system is longitude and latitude, although there are several other alternative systems (UTM, Decimal Degrees, State Plains Coordinates, and others).

Geographic coordinate systems tie into datums. Datums are used to translate satellite data to positions indicated on a real map. Simply put, these are utilized because the earth is not a perfect sphere. Turns out the world is not a globe after all…

Directions to a specific property are generally compiled using available maps and online resources. The use of GPS by our customers allows them to confidently find the location of a property. This is especially true for larger-acreage property. For example, if you can locate the center point for a 40-acre parcel of land, it is very likely that you are within the boundaries of that property. However, the margin of error would be much smaller on a .06 acre property.

While GPS is a very useful tool, it is important to remember that GPS data is not survey-grade. In other words, don’t sink survey stakes, put up a fence, or construct a road based on GPS data, as you may be on your neighbor’s land. There is survey-grade GPS equipment out there, but it is always used in conjunction with an on-the-ground survey. Most county and local government authorities do not accept GPS data for legal boundaries of a property.

Decimal Degree Coordinates for the Centerpoint and Four Corners the same Property

 

If you would like to find the location of a property using a GPS device, it is relatively simple. We keep our data in the decimal degrees geographic coordinate system using the WGS84 datum (the most commonly used datum in the United States). If you are familiar with your GPS device, it is relatively easy to change the coordinate format (usually in settings) to decimal degrees and set the datum to WGS84 (most likely the default). It is important that you are using the correct datum or your location can be thrown off substantially.

If you are relatively new to GPS, do not despair. Just look at the format of a standard waypoint in your unit and convert the decimal degrees to that format. We promise there is no math. There are a number of free websites that can easily convert coordinates to the format of your choice. The following are some of our personal favorites:

Latitude, Longitude, Coordinate and Conversion

Latitude/Longitude Conversions

Jeep Reviews GPS Coordinate Conversion

If you are still stuck, there are literally thousands of places on the internet about GPS, or just ask us and we can try and walk you through it. Have fun exploring!

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Reseller Success Stories

As professional investors, we at Mission spend all of our time working hard to find property that can provide investment opportunities for our customers. Our customer base is vast and varied. We sell to the international private investor; the reseller; the aspiring investor; and the personal property investor, who invests for his or her retirement to build a dream home. We feel that investing in land can be exciting and lucrative, and can give one much more control than investing traditionally, because finding property that works for you can make you money. If it is worth something, it will sell quickly. To highlight this belief, we will showcase success stories on a monthly basis, stories about our investors and their successful investments.

Our first investor is a first-time, one-time buyer from Mission, who purchased a five-acre property in Mohave County, Arizona. Mission purchased the property for $1,000 and listed it on our standard 30-day auction site on eBay. In November 2007, our investor successfully bid on and purchased the property for $5,100. A few months later in February 2008, this investor sold the five-acre parcel for $13,000, two-and-a-half times the purchase price.

What do we know about this investor? We happen to know that he lived in the area and was probably familiar with the property. Based on the turn-around time, we know he was looking to make a quick profit. It is possible that this investor already had a buyer for the property before bidding and purchasing from Mission. It would be easy to infer that this investor was lucky, but we feel that luck didn’t factor into it, but rather due diligence. This person knew what he was doing. To him, purchasing this property wasn’t risky; he knew he could make a profit.

The next example involves two investors who are return customers. Over the past two years, this duo—perhaps a husband and wife team, perhaps just business partners or friends pooling their resources—has made six purchases of property in three counties. Two of their properties are also located in Mohave County, Arizona, and were acquired from the 30-day auction format. They have sold two of these six properties. One parcel, just over one acre, was purchased for $6,800 and sold for $10,000, netting $3,200. Another parcel, a five-acre lot, was purchased for $6,100 and sold for $16,000, netting $9,900. The first parcel happened to take longer to sell than the second one, and the profit margin of the first sale was obviously not as substantial as that of the second sale. However, the return on investment from the five-acre parcel most likely paid for the rest of the properties, putting them at least at breakeven, and with four more properties to sell.

What do we know about these two? We know that they also are familiar with the area. We know that they are patient investors, taking the time to sell the right way to the right investors as they still have four parcels left and took two years to purchase all six of them. Perhaps they buy for hobby or for longer term plans. We know that they are savvy investors, however, who are willing to wait for the best deal for them.

We haven’t heard from the investor from our first example since his successful purchase. Perhaps he is watching and waiting for that next great piece of land that works for him, perhaps he’s looking elsewhere. Maybe he’s enjoying his profit! The folks in our second example are loyal, return customers, seemingly enjoying taking their time investing. In any case, these investors made wise choices practicing due diligence. All of us have become successful investors.

Our work at Mission is not just meant for someone wanting to retire. Most of our customers are investors hoping to make a profit in a reasonabe amount of time. Stay tuned for examples of other success stories. Maybe one of them will come from you!

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Real Estate Tax Sales and Internet Land Auctions

Have you ever stayed up late or awakened early, turned on the television and watched part of an infomercial about making millions on eBay or buying a house for $350 at a tax sale? As it turns out, both are true: Internet auctions can result in a profitable return on investment, and many investors buy land through tax sales. For many in the industry, purchasing land through tax sales and selling it online is common practice. Although it requires time, effort, resources and other skills, it is another way to invest in property, which could result in successful investments, depending on your goals. This is an introduction to real estate tax sales and Internet land auctions and how they can work together.

As of this month, there are about 12,200,000 Real Property parcels for sale or scheduled to be sold in America for the amount of back taxes that have not been paid. This is known as a tax sale. All tax sales are different depending on the jurisdiction. They come in the form of tax deeds or tax liens and can be purchased for about 1 to 3 percent of their market value by our calculation. These parcels are in this defaulted status because the owner has not paid the real estate taxes associated with the parcel. In many cases, the owner does not know that he owns the property or the owner has passed away. After a certain amount of time, the property is taken back by the municipality to which the taxes are owed and sold to recover that amount.

Tax deeds work like this:

1. The owner does not pay Real Property taxes owed to a municipality.
2. The municipality contacts the owner according to state or local statutes in an attempt to get the tax account current.
3. When this effort fails, the municipality goes through Administrative Foreclosure, which results in taking title to the property. The property is now in the municipality’s name.
4. The municipality holds an auction and an individual can purchase the property for the amount of taxes owed.
5. The individual receives a deed from the municipality and is then free to do what he chooses with the property. In our case, we sell it on the Internet for more than we paid (hopefully).

Tax liens are much more complicated and work like this:

1. The owner does not pay Real Property taxes owed to a municipality. (same as above)
2. The municipality contacts the owner according to state or local statutes in an attempt to get the tax account current. (same as above)
3. When this effort fails, the municipality holds an auction and sells the tax lien on the property. An investor buys the tax lien and now the money is owed to the investor, not the municipality. 
4. The investor either collects the money or, when he cannot, goes through Judicial Foreclosure and becomes the owner of the property.
5. The individual receives a deed from the municipality and is then free to do what he chooses with the property. In our case, we sell it on the Internet for more than we paid (hopefully). (same as above)

Purchasing tax defaulted property can be extremely complicated. It requires a high level of patience, organization, finesse and dedication. There is a legal process that has to be followed to the letter or an investor will lose time and money. Furthermore, like many other scenarios we have discussed, this process can vary from state to state, or county by county. The manner in which a municipality manages tax defaulted property is the culmination of centuries of legislation. As with any method of investment, the practice of due diligence only makes you a stronger, wiser and smarter investor. It is something that most definitely can be learned over time.

Once the property has been acquired, the owner has a choice to keep it or sell it. At Mission, we choose to sell it online.  Selling anything on an auction site like eBay requires skills and knowledge as well. However, it also demands a strong grasp of computers if one wants to sell in volume. We cannot emphasize this enough. The great eBay success stories all have a strong background in computers. Because we buy and sell property online, we are constantly immersed in utilizing tools, such as spreadsheets, databases and scanners; creating and managing maps, websites and photos; and establishing payment processing and customer service. Navigating a computer’s potential as well as the Internet may be a bit more bewildering than learning to invest. It takes a lot of time, effort and patience to hone this skill, but it can be accomplished and it will only make you more successful.

If this is beginning to sound overwhelming—tax sales and computer efficiency—it is because both are complex systems. For us here at Mission, it is particularly true that buying property and selling it online has worked out well. As you have read in previous posts, we buy and sell property on a cash basis, leaving us hassle- and debt-free. However, we didn’t begin this way; we acquired our property through tax sales. Back in 1999, we attended a land auction in New Mexico. As luck would have it, an ice storm set in and only two of us were left in attendance. We gobbled up the parcels at $35 each and sold them online. Savvy investment know-how led us to invest in this way. Technological know-how took us to another level. The rest, as they say, is history.

Purchasing land through tax sales is one way to invest in real property. It isn’t necessarily the best way, or the easiest, but it is common practice, requiring a strong commitment and will to invest. As aforementioned, our story begins with land acquisition through tax sales. We are considering returning to this method as times change as well as our interests, adding it to our repertoire of ways to buy and sell property. If you are or want to be a serious investor, purchasing land through tax sales is an exciting way to do so.

For an introductory look at real estate tax investing, go to www.taxsalelists.com. John, the owner of the site, has the most industry experience of anyone we have ever met and holds regular seminars that are a must for a beginning investor.

As for eBay, go to the help page. If you can successfully sell ten items in your garage for any amount of money, you can be successful in this business. Stay tuned for more information. As always, we would love to hear your thoughts.

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Real Property Access Issues

Frequently, we are asked questions about access as investors seek to bid on, buy or investigate land. There are two types of access to any given parcel of real property in the USA — physical and legal.  Physical access is less complicated than legal access, which requires an easement. Let’s take a look.

Physical access can be defined as the ease and convenience to which a property can be entered or accessed by customers, tenants, or other users, and is particularly related to access via automobile. In other words, physical access says the property is accessible relatively informally and/or hassle-free.

Legal access relates to passing through someone else’s property to access a destination parcel. It is formally called “ingress” and “egress”, or getting to and from a parcel of real property legally. Picture this not too far-fetched scenario: A farmer is holding a shot gun asking you why you are on his property, when all you are trying to do is get to yours by crossing his. (Please bear with the crude illustration; we’re land guys not illustrators.) What is needed is an “easement” through the farmer’s property.

An easement is the right or freedom to do something or the right to prevent someone else from doing something over the Real Property of another. For example, an easement is often described as the right to use the land of another for a special purpose. Unlike a lease, an easement does not give the holder a right of possession of the property, only a right of use. It is distinguished from a license, which only gives one a personal privilege to do something even more limited on the land of another. An example of a license is the right to park a car in a parking lot with the consent of the parking lot owner. Licenses in general can be terminated by the property owner much more easily than easements.

Easements also differ from licenses in that most easements are attached to and benefit another parcel of land, not a specific person (easements appurtenant). This means that a property that enjoys an easement over another will continue to enjoy the easement even if the property gets transferred to a different owner. Other easements benefit a specific person (easements in gross).

Easement concepts differ substantially from country to country, and in the U.S. from state to state. Traditionally, it was a right that could only attach to an adjacent land and was for the benefit of all, not a specific person. This is also no longer true in many jurisdictions.

Our organization has been both the farmer and the trespasser due to lack of legal research—failing to practice due diligence—before purchasing land. When we lack understanding of our legal rights or access/easement laws, we become hesitant to move forward with an investment. Access issues can be very easy to understand when we are clear about their meaning.

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Due Diligence – Focusing on Real Property

As real estate investors, we know that practicing due diligence can result in successful investments as well as allowing you to “smoke out” properties that may not work. Practicing due diligence in real estate and searching for clouds on title eliminates problems down the road and can lead to a great investment in Real Property.

Due diligence is the research that a buyer exercises prior to completing the purchase by investigating and verifying any documentation, or a chain of title, attached to the piece of property. There can be many steps in practicing due diligence, and methodology varies from person to person. The easiest way to verify whether a piece of property is suitable as an investment is to visit the property. It can also include asking questions at the County, pulling up county tax records, or conducting a title search. You can also pull up maps or investigate the area around the property to see if there are any association fees/HOAs and whether or not they are up-to-date. A site survey may help with your decision, although technology has come so far that you rarely would need to conduct this effort. If you are buying from us, you are always welcome to ask us about our property.

Another important thing to consider as an investor is trusting your own judgment when you invest in property. There are many myths out there regarding Real Property investment, one of which is that a real estate agent is required in order to make a wise investment. Purchasing anything online comes with risks and can make you especially leery when you are investing in something. However, we firmly believe that you can practice due diligence and make a wise choice purchasing Real Property online without utilizing a real estate agent, and we have many success stories to prove it. Just as purchasing raw land eliminates the usual hassles that come with purchasing homes or dwellings, so does purchasing property on your own by removing that third person to make a deal. There are many ways that you can investigate potential property on your own and still invest wisely. Doing it on your own is part of the fun! It’s all about due diligence. We strongly encourage that you feel satisfied about your knowledge of any property before buying or bidding.

As potential buyers and sellers, we all should practice due diligence. After nine years of refining our land acquisition process through due diligence, we have created a reputation of buying great land with a clean title at below-market value. Because we do not have outside investors or creditors and pay cash for our real estate, we are able to make swift and informed decisions about valuable property, passing the savings on to our investors.

At any given time we are reviewing about 1000 land transactions and in the process of purchasing about 300 additional assets. All of the property we invest in is reviewed by our engineering staff and approved by our acquisition staff, as well as the owners of the company, who review the chain of title searching for clouds or potential problems. Our engineers put together a “workup” of each property that consists of a plat map, assessors’ values, topographical maps, area maps and, most importantly, a set of interactive Google Earth maps.

As a result, we usually do not purchase risky assets and our process is trusted. We believe it is essential to check title and escrow agents’ work and do so on nearly all transactions. With so many acquisition opportunities to review at any given time, we are assured that the purchase prices we pay are at or below-market value. We pick and choose the best investment opportunities and ultimately pass these investments on to our customers.

We are proud of our process, because it works. It works for us. One system may not work for every investor, but that is part of the process of becoming a wise investor: Figure out what works for you in order to build trust in yourself and in your investment. We are always happy to share the results of our analysis with the buyers of our Real Property.

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PayDirt$ – Real Investing, Real Property, Online

Investing.  Stocks, bonds, real estate.  Flipping houses.  Ways to get rich quick.  It’s all out there, all of the time: ideas and advice, good and bad, on how to invest your money in order to turn a profit.  We’ve learned from our fathers and our friends.  We’ve taken risks and have fallen short, or we’ve come up on top and have made a bundle.  We invest for fun and we invest for our future.  We’ve all dreamed of what could be, and there are so many ways…

It seems clear that when the topic of investing arises, one immediately thinks stocks and bonds, 401k, or real estate in the form of flipping or refurbishing houses, or simply buying or selling homes.  They are tried (and these days not so true) and traditional investment endeavors, and we are all probably most familiar with them.  What also seems clear is that times are changing.  Doubts, fears and anxieties are running high for some—for many, perhaps.  But folks are still investing, or wanting to invest.  As the traditional avenues of Wall Street and real estate are failing us, another not-so-new avenue is coming to the forefront as a wise, reasonable and lucrative investment: land.

Yes, dirt.  Turns out that land as an investment—historically older and a better investment than stocks—is still alive and very much kicking.

A typical online search of land as investment or real estate as investment inevitably results in a dead end search as there is a lack of information out there that truly focuses on Real Property as investment.  Even more foreign to investors is the idea that quality, valuable property is available FOR PURCHASE online, particularly on eBay.  Skeptical?  We might have been, too, had 10 years of buying and selling property online not worked for us.  Feedback: Mission / Integrity

Who are we?  We are Mission Equity Properties, LLC.  It boggles our minds that more folks haven’t turned to property as an investment, especially in this market.  We have many a loyal following of repeat buyers who know how to invest in land but also recognize us as a trusted source for selling quality property for whatever one’s reasons are—investing, selling, retiring, and so on.

However, we also understand that many folks, though interested in investing outside-the-box and taking risks, are hesitant not only to buy land but also to buy land online.  Perhaps they don’t know how.  Perhaps they don’t know why.  We understand and we recognize the gaps in information and the fears that may exist.  For these reasons, we have set up this blog for the novice, for the traditional investor and for the experts—those who know how to invest in land and want more.

Our company specializes in providing low cost, high quality property available to multiple types of investors.  Investors ranging from short term resellers to long term retirement planning.  We do all the hard work of finding the property, making it available to you.  We are proud of our process, because it works—and we do this all online!  We are always happy to share the results of our analysis with the buyers of our Real Property.

Are you investing in Real Property or looking to get started?  There isn’t that much information available to us online.  We want to be your source.  We have the knowledge and the resources.  Over time we will tackle many topics and highlight various properties and investment strategies.  Why are you investing in the first place?  Let us know.  Let’s discuss it here at PayDirt$.

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