This past week I was in North Carolina and was able to look at several properties. Some of these were ones I already owned the notes on and wanted to check in on them. Others were ones I have seen on tapes that may come up for sale before the end of the year. I followed a similar process to the trip I took to Indiana and Ohio last year.
Nothing beats seeing the property and the surrounding area for yourself. Sometimes the property is in decent shape but there are boarded up houses on the same street. On this trip I encountered a mixed bag. Trips like this can potentially save you a lot of money on due diligence expenses. One of my pet peeves of the notes business is when I get a bid accepted, and then can’t close because the home is in rough shape,but not finding that out until spending $100 on a BPO. If you can scout properties ahead of time you can save yourself trouble by not bidding on certain properties or avoiding certain town.
Its hard to get a feel for whether you want to invest in a town based on online statistics, Google Maps, and crime data. Those things are usually accurate and will be good enough, but often don’t tell the entire story. When I scout an area I make notes on which areas I’m willing to invest in and which ones I’m not. I found some smaller towns that were very nice overall and had cute downtown areas. Others were not so great and I will avoid those.
I was also able to play some golf while I was there. I always recommend mixing in some fun things on these trips. But August is not the most comfortable month to play in North Carolina because of the heat and humidity. So next time I’ll probably pick a cooler time of the year 🙂