- Work with counties with upcoming sales. Most counties don't have lists available till they have a sale a month or so on the horizon. We can use the property vault with good success to find counties that have upcoming sales. Please use the property vault tutorial to get familiar with it.
- Try to get the list from the county. The property vault has lists available for us. These are good lists, but the best lists are available at the county. The counties are able to update the lists daily in some cases. The property vault gets their lists from the counties but are unable to update them. We can use http://www.naco.org/, and http://www.netronline.com/ to get the websites and contact information for each county.
- Be persistant, yet pleasant. Keep in mind the counties aren't known for customer service skills. They are efficient in what they do and if we ask the right questions we will get what we came for in most cases. We will want to get in the habit of asking questions to get to the lists wherever the county has placed them. Do not approach them with a sense of entitlement. Be very grateful to the county workers for any help they give us.
- Don't feel bad skipping counties. If the county has no information for us, or refuses to help us with what we need don't feel bad skipping them for now. With over 3,000 counties we can afford to skip a few if need be.
- Make your own calendar. Any time we contact counties that have sales in the future, but no lists now. Find out when the next sale is and mark your calendar. Counties will have their sales at the same time each year with rare exception. A calendar will be a valuable tool in the future of your business.
The 5 County Assignment will walk you through the process of working with the counties effectively. It is a huge advantage to know exactly how each county handles their auctions.
