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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