Choosing which county to work
Most people pick the biggest county near them and are surprised when it is the hardest one to work.
Start with the signal, not the size
A county is only worth working if it contains enough of the specific list type you intend to pull. A large county with almost no recorded tax liens is a worse tax-lien market than a mid-sized one with thousands, and the population figure tells you nothing about which you are looking at.
This varies enormously and not in the direction people expect. Some states have deep lien data and some have nearly none — Connecticut is a striking example of a state where the tax-delinquent record simply is not there in any useful quantity.
So the first question is not "how big is this county", it is "how much of the thing I want to call actually exists here".
Then ask whether you can close there
A list in a market you cannot transact in is a list you will not act on. Distance to the property, whether you know a title company there, whether you have a buyer who wants that ZIP — all of it decides whether a signed contract turns into money.
Working further afield is entirely possible and plenty of people do it. It just needs the disposition side solved first rather than discovered afterwards.
A smaller county you can close in beats a bigger one you cannot.
Then ask how worked-out it is
Every wholesaler within driving distance of a major metro has pulled that metro. Owners in heavily-worked counties have had the conversation before, often several times, and the response rate reflects it.
The counties immediately outside the obvious ones are usually less contacted, and the arithmetic of a slightly smaller list with a much better response rate is often favourable.
This is judgement rather than data, and it is the part of the decision no file can make for you.
Questions people ask
How many counties should I work at once?
One, until it is working. Running three at once means that when something does not work you cannot tell whether it was the market, the list type or the script.
Can you tell me how many records a county has before I order?
You see a count before you pay, and if the county holds fewer than you ordered the difference is credited back automatically. We do not publish per-county inventory figures because each file is pulled when it is ordered rather than held in stock.
Is it worth working a county in another state?
It can be, but sort out the closing side first. Also check the foreclosure regime before choosing a pre-foreclosure list there, because the same list type behaves very differently in a judicial state.
Related
Pick a county and a list type, or send your own addresses. Mobile numbers only, litigator and DNC scrubbed, and anything the county does not hold is credited back.