I have been fantasising about buying land in my area. I live

I did this a few years back, and still hold parcels in Kern, Santa Babara, Orange and Riverside Counties.

I pay about $50-$150 taxes on each yearly.

Each was purchased for between $1 and $1000 pending on existing unpaid taxes. There was about $40 for county filing fee and i'd estimate about $300 for lawyer fees for deed processing etc.

I see them as a low risk investment, as the cash I put in has slowly increased in value - being Australian I purchased when a USD was worth 70cents.

The county assessor and tax collectors help out alot if you ask. I had the county assessors send me photographs of the parcels before purchase and any information about building, development projects or zoning withing a few miles radius and they were happy to oblige. The tax collector was more than happy to send tax bills earlier so they could be paid on time once they reach AU.

Just give it a try with one parcel, see what you can do with it and then determine if you can flip it, or make the choice to hold it.

>>1468558
Interesting, how did you find them?

>>1468347

This is going to be a hard idea to make money off of but you are welcome to try. You have to recognize why the land is losing its perceived value.

>>1468558
This guy probably did it right. He bought when the market was low and the demand for tax liens or tax defective property was very low. He was able to see through the downturn and succeed. You need to think similarly.

The biggest problem is that because of Agenda 21 driven planning, California's ongoing drought plus the recent requirements for Residential Sprinkler systems, you will be hard pressed to find the most valuable land for development.

Solar Farms are going to be just as, if not more difficult to accomplish. California has very big problems with wildlife protection and a whole bunch of state and federal planning agencies who are going to do their best to stop your solar farm from taking off. Case in point, the Altamont wind farms.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_29048835/altamont-pass-controversial-wind-turbine-company-blamed-bird

You will have people up your ass about fried birds from minute one.

Next, California has a more regulated energy market than most.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_California

Third. Net metering is going to go away very quickly. You are unlikely to be able to sell your excess capacity unless you have a monopoly over a particular area.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/05/why-is-texas-terrible-at-producing-solar-power/445221/

The biggest question I have to ask, why are you even trying to spend money in California? There are a thousand other places which are far easier to do business in raw land. You have to comply with an assload of regulation and taxes in California yet, you want to buy land.

>>1468624
Yes for making money its very silly to try and do it in CA. But I live here and I love living here.

I also want to be apart of the solution. For some reason I feel I should do my part instead of leaving. I was for the 5 Californias(call me crazy, I dont mind).

Nevada would be a decent option I suppose. Arizona even better but.... I dont know if id be happy there either. Even if i was making however much money.

>>1468677
Nevada is a terrible market for land. Don't even think about getting involved as there are 3 big problems.

1. If the State of Nevada can ever wrestle land (Even 2% of the land in Federal Hands) from the Federal Government the price of land will crash to epic lows.

2. Any water problems that California has are amplified by 10 in Nevada. Close to 5% of the land has any real ability to be developed.

3. Achieving an easement that is unencumbered is impossible in Nevada. You will always have assholes trying to fuck you over.

>Arizona even better

Arizona is a state that has a long and proud history of land scams. Finding undeveloped and potentially profitable land is very hard as the good land was taking and accounted for when the snowbirds started to move in.

> I also want to be apart of the solution. For some reason I feel I should do my part instead of leaving. I was for the 5 Californias(call me crazy, I dont mind).

Unless you are giving money to your representatives you aren't part of anything really. Just remember, California's legislature is one of the least representative legislative bodies in the world. You and one million other people have to vie for one assemblyman's ear. You have a better shot at talking with your federal representative.

>Yes for making money its very silly to try and do it in CA. But I live here and I love living here.

It is entirely your decision. Personally, I think the next big boom will be back east when it comes to land. I would recommend looking into urban areas, but that is just me.

If you are still interested in California I have some ideas, however I would prefer to discuss them over email. Please leave an email and I will get into contact with my ideas.

>>1468581
The counties all release tax defaulted auction lists on a regular basis. You can attend the auction in person - i can't. They also give the options to participate in their online auctions. Usually held by a proxy like Bid4Assets or some such.

The lists are out long enough for the parcels to be investigated and short listed before it all starts. Then you can bid on what you want rather than shot gun bidding and hoping for the best.

>>1468692
Would love to discuss and converse more. Never been comfortable with sharing emails via 4chan.

Mainly because im fairly ingnorant to do that ill look in the faq or where ever and contact you.

I do try and contribute financially to politics when i can. Have been fairly strapped for cash with school and limited work availability.

Please forgive my ignorance in regards to land and the differing states. This has all been an idea piled on top of lingering fantasy over the past 2 years.

>>1468624
For me this strategy was also build on the idea that the need for land to build alternative energy sources will cause the surrounding land to appreciate. Solar is a dog of a technology and not the only alternative to power in 'nothingness'- especially towards the south areas of Kern where i'm sure tumbleweed/kassia has issues growing.

I picked the counties surrounding LA because of the possibility of an extension in either the county borders, or 'farm out' type agreements into LA for power in the long term.

Water and water quality issues have been a huge discussion in Australia over the past 15 years. Although not an issue on our level in our highly populated areas (the 90%), it is still considered a global issue. California is often used as a case study and there are a handful of Australian listed / ASX companies that are working on this issue with links to Californian universities and private sector companies. I've invested in some of those in the past years for that alone (IP is IP regardless of who owns it)

It was also a way to protect money. I have about 400 acres spread out in 5 and 10 acre blocks. I tend to liquidate them as needed, keep it in USD and re-invest / flip it when i get bored.

>>1468677
Arizona has screwy land tax rules. Dont get me wrong, its great but for some reason i decided it was 'too hard'.

I had property in New Mexico too but they lacked the ability to mail, fax or email outside of the country. I had no time to set up a proxy before it defaulted.

I considered section 8 housing projects a few years back but couldn't get a clear set of requirements from any government entity that manages it and without a pre-existing property wasn't able to obtain a framework for minimum audit results - i kept getting the 'we'll provide that data with an audit' type answers.

The plan here was to build a corporation with a handful of properties with section 8 subsidisation, government employment assistance grants and education and training programs to train plumbers and electricians. Most of the hard work has been done. The section 8'ing holds me up but its on the back burner for now.

Working on an Australian project, and then i'll come back to this one - when the pricing is right again.

>>1468753
I'll add, getting a list of minimum audit results across multiple counties sets the low end of the bar. Taking the hardest points to achieve and make them the standard would raise the level, and value of the property.

>>1468624
Why is California full retard with communism.