First, the response to my offer for real estate research help was incredible. It is possibly the best response that I have ever had. I heard your response loud and clear and I am ready to deliver. I think this could be one of the biggest trends in real estate investing over the next decade.

In my next newsletter, I will explain how you can get involved.

Tax sale season is starting to heat up. The months of April and May are very busy tax sale months. Here are some of the upcoming sales:

Florida. All counties in Florida conduct their tax lien certificate sales by June 1st. Florida has an excellent website for finding tax sale information. Here is the link for the general site: 

www.myflorida.com

Here are some other important web pages you may want to visit:

Many of the tax lien certificate sales in Florida will be conducted online. Here are some bidding tips for online sales:

• In Florida, you still get a minimum 5% interest rate on all tax lien certificates as long as you do not bid down the interest rate to zero (Florida tax lien certificate investors bid in quarter increments). For example, a bid of 0.25% would still pay an interest rate of 5%. Don't try and make sense out of this, just accept the fact that in Florida, the 5% is really a penalty to discourage delinquent taxpayers from trying to "game the system." It is one of the weird features of Florida tax lien certificate sales.
• I would not advise bidding any tax lien certificates down to zero in this state. This is because in Florida, you will not automatically get the property if the tax lien certificate is not redeemed. In Florida you must petition to take the property to the tax deed sale and then bid against anyone else who wants an interest in the property. 

California. Spring is a busy time for California as well. Here are some of the upcoming sales in this state: 

San Bernardino County
Online, May 2-20

Northern California Counties - Group 1
Modoc, Plumas, Sierra and Siskiyou counties
Online, May 4-5

Northern California Counties - Group 2
Del Norte, Lassen, Tehama and Solano counties
Online, May 11-12

Bid4assets is conducting these sales.

As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, we will be team teaching a tax lien/tax deed seminar with Freedom Investment Club on April 16 and 17, 2005 in Los Angeles. Here is the link for more information regarding this seminar:

I also worked out a deal with FIC for all Rogue Real Estate Investor Customers coming to the California seminar: buy one get one FREE!

Buy one ticket and bring your guest at no charge. If you already purchased your ticket, find a friend.

Next week I will be going to Texas to do some more research on struck off lists in Texas. If you are not familiar with this term, struck off lists are over-the-counter lists Texas style. These are properties that did not sell in a previous auction and have been struck off to the county.

In the upcoming California seminar, I will cover over-the-counter sales in detail. For those of you in California, over-the-counter sales may be a good tax sale investing option if tax sales in your area are becoming too crowded.

Finally, as I discussed in my last newsletter, I met four companies at the 2005 National Real Estate Investing Expo that have a message that might interest many real estate investors.

In this newsletter, I want to profile Norm Bour and Mike Roberts from southern California.

Norm and Mike host a very popular radio show that is broadcast live in Los Angeles (KRLA 870 AM) and Las Vegas (KNUU [Knews] 970 AM). Here is the link to their website, and if you live in either of these areas you might want to listen in to their program on Sunday evenings:

Both Norm and Mike have 25 years each of real estate and financial planning knowledge under their belts, and they have developed a niche for themselves as "Mortgage Strategists."

What is a Mortgage Strategist?

In brief, it refers to a person who teaches strategies for understanding and managing mortgages, something that just about everyone needs to comprehend in our society. The centerpiece of Norm and Mike's advice is simple but profound:

A powerful real estate investing strategy is to pay off your real estate debt quickly.

To help their clients, they use a mortgage acceleration program called Mortgage Accelerator PLUS, or MAP. It teaches you how to pay off your mortgages and other debts in 1/3 the time by combining your mortgage with your checking account. It's simple, works on one property or many, and the average pay off period with all their clients is 8.5 years. It's interesting to note that not all ways to make money involve investing or buying property. Sometimes it's just a matter of controlling the money that you already have.

On Norm and Mike's website there is a narrated presentation that you can follow. You can also call them toll free at 866-ASK-NORM.

Identify yourself as a Rogue Real Estate Investor over the phone or via their website (comments sections on order form or by email) and they will be happy to help.

Happy investing,

Bryan Rundell