For many real estate investors, the journey from small-time deals to raising millions in private capital can feel like an insurmountable leap. But in a recent episode of Jay Conner’s “Raising Private Money” podcast, Brian Seidensticker—an aerospace engineer-turned-real estate visionary—pulled back the curtain on how data access and tech platforms are revolutionizing the way investors find opportunities, scale their businesses, and secure capital.
Let’s dig into some of the key takeaways from Brian’s conversation with Jay, where expertise, technology, and a growth mindset collide to uncover hidden corners of the real estate world.
Thinking Bigger: Mindset Shifts for Raising Serious Capital
Brian’s journey began with a powerful realization most investors miss: thinking bigger from the start is crucial. Instead of focusing on piecemeal investments—and the dozens of small conversations that go with them—he prioritized aligning with investors capable of making substantial contributions. This not only streamlines conversations but also helps set minimum investment thresholds that make legal and operational sense.
As Jay pointed out, managing dozens of small investors can be just as much legal work as handling larger ones, but with exponentially less capital. The trick, Brian says, is constantly “planting seeds” and being intentional about how you present yourself. His favorite answer to “what do you do?” is simple but effective: “I run a real estate fund.” It immediately sparks curiosity and invites deeper conversations.
Unlocking Overlooked Opportunities: Tax Liens and Deeds
Most people are familiar with single-family rentals, commercial buildings, maybe even self-storage—but tax liens and deeds? As Brian explains, it’s a “weird, overlooked corner” of real estate that quietly moves $4 to $5 billion annually. Tax lien investing is like holding a micro-mortgage on a property, earning interest until the owner pays off the debt—or, potentially, stepping into ownership if they don’t.
The process is nuanced. When owners fall behind on taxes, counties sell liens to investors. The investor gets a fixed interest return if the owner repays, but if not, they could gain the property following a foreclosure process (subject to state laws). Tax deed investing, on the other hand, allows investors to buy distressed real estate outright—often at a steep discount.
Brian stresses that while it’s not always glamorous (think “fix and flip” properties in need of real TLC), the continuous learning and unique opportunities make tax sales a rewarding niche for those willing to do their homework.
Why Data Access and Tech Are Game Changers
So how do you scale and increase your odds of success in such a complex market? Brian’s answer: data and technology. The inefficiency and fragmentation of tax sale information used to require teams of people calling counties, tracking sales, and analyzing lists by hand.
Brian’s platform, Tax Sale Resources, was born from this pain point. Originally an internal tool, it’s since evolved into a national software solution—like a “Zillow for tax sale properties”—aggregating data from thousands of auctions and millions of properties nationwide. Investors can now pinpoint where and when sales are happening and even analyze which auctions are likely to offer better deals.
Over time, layering auction results and machine learning enables insight into the best places to invest and which sales to avoid—a huge advantage for investors and for Brian’s own fund, Mount North Capital.
Collaboration Over Competition
An especially noteworthy part of Brian’s approach is collaboration. Through his fund, he partners with local investors to share profits and give them access to capital, rather than simply acting as a lender. This model leverages the strengths of both parties: data and funding meet local market expertise.
Key Takeaway: Embrace Technology and Strategic Partnerships
Brian’s story is proof that in today’s market, combining big-picture thinking, niche expertise, and powerful data platforms can unlock doors that others don’t even see. If you want to scale your real estate business, start by leveraging technology, building strategic partnerships, and thinking beyond the traditional investment paths.
Ready to explore tax sale investing or leverage data-driven platforms? Visit taxsaleresources.com for data, or mountnorthcapital.com for partnership opportunities and capital solutions.
10 Discussion Questions from this Episode:
- Mindset Shifts: Brian mentioned that thinking bigger was essential for raising significant capital. What mindset changes do you think are necessary for scaling up in real estate investing?
- Setting Minimum Investment Amounts: Both Jay and Brian discussed the importance of establishing minimum investment amounts for private lenders. How do you determine what the minimum is right for your business?
- Planting Seeds with Potential Investors: The episode highlighted the value of consistently “planting seeds” with potential investors. What are some effective ways to organically mention what you do without feeling salesy?
- Elevator Pitch: Brian recommends answering “What do you do?” with, “I run a real estate fund.” How does this approach impact the conversation compared to more detailed or technical explanations?
- Word-of-Mouth Credibility: Why do you think word-of-mouth remains one of the strongest forms of marketing for attracting private investors?
- Tax Liens vs. Tax Deeds: After Brian’s explanation, what do you see as the main advantages and challenges of investing in tax liens versus tax deeds?
- Getting Started in a Niche Field: Brian shared how he stumbled into tax lien investing after experiencing the process on the “wrong side.” What is the value of personal experience in finding your real estate investment focus?
- The Role of Technology and Data: Brian’s platform, Tax Sale Resources, is built to provide data-driven insights. How important do you think data and technology are to gaining an edge in today’s real estate market?
- Access to Capital: In the episode, Brian explains that traditional bank loans aren’t generally available for tax deed investing. How does private money or fund-based capital fill this gap for investors?
- Scaling Lessons: Reflecting on Brian’s journey from aerospace engineering to running a national-level fund and tech platform, what do you think are the key factors that allowed him to successfully scale multiple businesses?
Fun facts that were revealed in the episode:
- From Rockets to Real Estate: Brian Seidensticker started his career as an aerospace engineer before diving into the world of real estate, specifically focusing on the often-overlooked niche of tax liens and deeds.
- The Power of a Simple Introduction: One of Brian’s most effective networking tools is simply introducing himself by saying, “I run a real estate fund.” According to both Brian and host Jay Conner, this short and intriguing introduction sparks curiosity and opens up valuable conversations with potential investors.
- The “Zillow” of Tax Sales: Brian developed Tax Sale Resources, a nationwide data and tech platform that tracks over 9,000 tax auction events and millions of properties each year, making it like the “Zillow for Tax Sale properties” and helping investors find hidden opportunities across the country.
Timestamps:
00:01 Thinking Bigger for Investment Success
05:37 Building Relationships with Potential Investors
08:41 Introducing a Real Estate Fund
13:10 Exploring Tax Sales and Investments
15:04 Tax Lien Letters Spark Industry Insight
18:10 Property Tax Deed Foreclosure Explained
23:38 Tax Deeds: Learning and Progress
27:17 AI Revolutionizes Property Auction Insights
30:48 Resource Hub for Tax Investors
33:40 Connect with Brian Seidensticker:
https://www.MountNorthCapital.com
33:55 Investment Opportunities with Mount North Capital
35:00 Raising Private Money: Share & Subscribe
Connect With Jay Conner:
Private Money Academy Conference:
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https://www.jayconner.com/MoneyReport
Join the Private Money Academy:
https://www.JayConner.com/trial/
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It is available FREE (all you pay is the shipping and handling) at https://www.JayConner.com/Book
What is Private Money? Real Estate Investing with Jay Conner
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Jay Conner is a proven real estate investment leader. Without using his own money or credit, Jay maximizes creative methods to buy and sell properties with profits averaging $67,000 per deal.
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Raising Millions and Finding Hidden Real Estate Opportunities Through Tax Sales and Data with Brian Seidensticker
Jay Conner [00:00:01]:
Now let me ask you something. What would your business look like if you had access to $35 million in private money? Well, most people struggle to raise even their first hundred grand. My guest today here on the show didn’t just figure it out. He built an entire system around it. Well, my guest started as an aerospace engineer. Yeah, rockets and jets, and all that kind of good stuff. But then he found this weird overlooked corner of real estate called tax liens and deeds and tax sales and all that kind of good stuff. Well, fast forward.
Jay Conner [00:00:38]:
He’s raised tens of millions of dollars, built multiple companies, and created platforms that are now powering investors all over the country. Today, he runs Tax Sale Resources, the go-to data and tech platform for tax lien investors. And he’s also behind Mount North Capital, a fund that helps distressed real estate investors get access to capital. So if you’ve ever wondered how to raise serious money, manage risk with data, and find opportunities most people don’t even know exist, you’re going to absolutely love this conversation on today’s podcast. In just a moment. You’re going to meet my special guest, Brian Seidensticker, right after this.
Narrator [00:01:26]:
If you’re a real estate investor and are wondering how to raise and leverage private money to make more profit on every deal, then you’re in the right place to raise private money. We’ll speak with new and seasoned investors to dissect their deals and extract the best tips and strategies to help you get the money. Because the money comes first. Now, here’s your host, Jay Connor, foreign.
Jay Conner [00:01:54]:
Welcome to the show, Brian. I’m so excited to have you today.
Brian Seidensticker [00:01:58]:
Well, thanks, thanks for having me, Jay. I’m excited to be here.
Jay Conner [00:02:00]:
Absolutely. Well, Brian, you know most, as you know, investors struggle even with their first hundred thousand dollars. For goodness’s sake, you’ve raised $35 million. So here’s my first question. What were the biggest shifts, mindset, et cetera, that allowed you to think and act at that scale?
Brian Seidensticker [00:02:25]:
Well, I think I’ve never thought about it from that perspective, Jay, but I think probably the biggest thing is maybe thinking a little bigger than most people do initially. And I think the biggest, I guess, reason behind that is when you’re raising significant capital, if you’re going to raise it from a private perspective, each investor that you work with is going to be a series of conversations. And some are going to be many conversations, some might be a couple, but it’s going to be a series of conversations. And you know that that obviously takes up time. And the one Thing that is limited by all of us on earth right now is that there’s only so much time in a day. You can’t make a 24-hour day into a 26-hour day. We all need to still sleep. And so, you know, making sure that you align your goals with the level of investor and your minimum, you know, capital placement, etc, is very key to making sure you can hit your goals.
Brian Seidensticker [00:03:26]:
Because if you go in with the mindset of, you know, I’ll take investors at, you know, a dollar or $10, yeah, you can get a lot of investors, but it’s going to take a lot of conversations to get any traction on that front.
Jay Conner [00:03:38]:
Yeah, I learned the hard way that when I first started raising capital for real estate, my initial mindset was, well, if they want to invest, I let them invest. And so the 10,000, the 20,000, the 25,000. And what I quickly discovered is I got to pay my real estate attorney the same amount of money to close 25,000 or 2500 as I do $250,000. So, so I quickly discovered, you know, I need to figure out exactly, really, what is that minimum amount that I want to allow a private lender investor to come in and loan to me? Because after all, that’s one of the first questions they’re going to ask, right? Well, what’s the minimum I can start with? Because here’s a writer downer, they all have more than they tell you. Hey, how often, how often, how often, Brian, have you had a new investor or private lender come in and put money with you? And then shortly down the road, they say, well, hey, I’ve got some more I’d like to invest, right?
Brian Seidensticker [00:05:01]:
Well, I’d say not everybody, but darn close to everybody, right? I think it’s rare that somebody puts 100% of their capital in the 1:1 investment or everything they have available at the time. A lot of things happen, right?. I think it’s a, I might give, give you a portion to see how it goes, right. And then, oh, you know, another investment came due. You know, I want to put it in a different location so you have some bandwidth. So it’s, yeah, it’s very rarely a one-and-done, you know, placements. It’s usually a trickle effect, right?
Jay Conner [00:05:31]:
Yeah.
Brian Seidensticker [00:05:32]:
Which is, which is great depending on the, the type of investment that you’re, that you’re offering.
Jay Conner [00:05:37]:
One phrase you said just a second ago was, Normally it’s a series of conversations with a new potential private lender or investor, and that’s been my experience for sure. And so the takeaway on that is many, many times having a new private lender investor come on with you into your business. It’s so important, from my experience, to be planting seeds all the time, mentioning what you do, how you’re, you know, somebody says, hey, Jay, what in the world do you do? Well, I pay a lot of money to my private investors for my real estate deals, and we make, you know, lucrative opportunities for everybody. So, like, how do you even answer the question? What do you do? And that’s what I meant by planting seeds. And, you know, I’m interested in finding out from you, Brian. I have a lot of my private lenders and investors that I mentioned it to, and it might be a year, two years, or three years down the road before they come back running. They say, Hey, Jay, you know, you were talking about that private money thing. Can you tell me more about it? And then.
Jay Conner [00:06:54]:
And then I’ve got private. Lynn, new private lenders who come on with me in less than 30 days. Has that been your experience as well?
Brian Seidensticker [00:07:03]:
Yes. Right. I think it’s like you said, to plant the seeds right. Now, that’s a skill or a habit that I’ve learned over time, where, you know, that question of, what do you do now? Now, my typical answer is I run a real estate fund, right? And that’s kind of that planting of the seed. And I can run a lot of different directions depending on the receiver of that, you know, information or that seed of. Oh, tell me more about what you do? Oh, you run a fund, you know, you know, what kind of investment do you offer? Right.
Brian Seidensticker [00:07:31]:
And so it’s, you know, learning that’s that skill, or do, you know, keep being cognizant. And planting that seed consistently has definitely been a skill set that has evolved because there are. There are folks that, you know, randomly. I was. I was presenting on a stage, this would be about a year ago, randomly presenting on a stage, and about the fund. And the gal had heard that I was from Montana. She came up, introduced herself, and lo and behold, she. We actually knew people in southwest Montana, the little town of Dylan, which is very uncommon, but that was, you know, she was also looking for a place to put capital.
Brian Seidensticker [00:08:10]:
But almost 95% of our conversations have nothing to do with the fund itself. It was really more about the people in the places that we knew in common. So I guess those little things that come out, you know, down the road, right? Which is key, you know, overall again, you can’t set the expectations that, you know, the conversation that I have today is the only opportunity to raise capital. It’s planning those seeds and watching those, you know, those seeds grow into something fruitful down the road.
Jay Conner [00:08:41]:
Brian, I’ve had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of guests on the show. I love talking about. How do you introduce yourself? How do you let people know that you, you know, give high rates of return safely and securely to your investors and your private lenders? But I’ve never had until right here on this show, you yourself, Bryden’s Brian Seiden sticker, answer the question of what do you do? I run a real estate fund. Now, I’ll tell you what I love about that answer. Number one, it’s short. It’s to the point. It’s to the point. The person that asks you that question, what do you do? Listen, listen, folks, if you are listening to this podcast, you want to write this down.
Jay Conner [00:09:29]:
The person who asks you the question, What do you do? And you answer the question. I run a real estate fund. It’s short. It. They probably 99.99999 in their life have never had anyone tell them that answer in their life. I run a real estate fund. And thirdly, they, I mean, naturally, they want to know what in the world is that? I mean, what is a real estate fund? Because most people don’t even know what a real estate fund is. And that’s a brilliant answer, Brian.
Jay Conner [00:10:06]:
I mean, that has got to have paid you millions in returns just by answering the question, What do you do. I run a real estate fund.
Brian Seidensticker [00:10:17]:
Yeah. Well, it certainly is, it sparks conversations way better than, you know, previously. Before I started Mountain Earth Capital, I ran a distressed real estate firm. You know, investing software. People might have curiosity, but most people are like, What? You know, let’s talk about something else. Right. So it is definitely. Oh, tell me a bit more about that.
Brian Seidensticker [00:10:38]:
You know, the fun, the real estate. I think it’s a good combination of words that spark a lot of interest, and then. And naturally. Right. Of course, your course folks are looking to. I’ll take a step back. Right. And you probably believe this, too, Jay, like the best advertising out there is still word of mouth.
Brian Seidensticker [00:10:54]:
Right. And there, there is, I think it’s just a natural human trait that if I meet somebody who does something, I’m going to give them more validity in my mind that they are doing something right, whether they are or not. Right. But if I can see and feel this person in real life, that is better than something that’s online or an ad. Right. And so you know, whether or not they were looking to place capital or not, right? Or if that was even an inkling in the back of their mind, right?. Asine immediately, oh, this is somebody that does this.
Brian Seidensticker [00:11:29]:
Right. Can I talk to you more about bringing that to the surface?. And I can’t say I went into coming up with that answer with the intent of doing that. It just seems to have sparked that response. So I guess even a blind squirrel gets us, gets a nut every once in a while, right?
Jay Conner [00:11:47]:
Well, Brian, you are not a blind squirrel, I will assure you that. So I’m going to ask my executive producer of my podcast right here live on the show. Make sure that it is in the show notes. Make sure that’s in the show notes and give bride and Brian Seidensticker the quote, the credit. Here’s how you answer the question. What do you do to attract new investors without chasing, begging, selling, or persuading? You’re just answering the question. I run a real estate fund and shut up.
Brian Seidensticker [00:12:22]:
Yeah. And answer questions from there. Exactly.
Jay Conner [00:12:25]:
I mean, I mean, just let the mic drop. Just let the mic drop. Right? Let the mic drop right after you say I run a real estate fund. And I mean, you know what people? You will have fun. You will have fun. Even if you don’t run a fund yet, you’re getting ready to raise private money, right? So Brian, there are all kinds of classes of real estate. There’s that, that people can use private money for. There’s self-storage, there’s single-family houses, there’s multifamily, there’s other commercial, there’s land, all kinds of real estate.
Jay Conner [00:13:10]:
And now here you are in this world of tax sales. How did you get interested in tax sales, and why tax sales? This is a three-part question. If you get, if you forget one of them, I’ll remind you. So, so how did you, how did you get, how did you get started in this world of tax sales, tax liens, tax deeds, and by the way, let everybody know, what’s the difference between tax liens and tax deeds and all that stuff? How did you get into it? Why did you stay in it versus other classes? And three, how did you use private money for those types of deals? Like in my world, I give my private lenders promissory notes for single-family houses, right? They take a promissory note, they get a deed of trust or a mortgage, as with funds, you know, that’s different. So, how, why, how did you get into it? Why are you staying in it? What’s the difference between those different pieces, and how do you structure them with private money?
Brian Seidensticker [00:14:18]:
You might have to remind me of some of those, Jay. But yeah, as far as getting into it, I did not grow up with aspirations of becoming a tax sale investor or a loan expert or whatever you call it, it was really more that I was introduced on the wrong side of a tax lien. I was doing a traditional fix-and-flip thing on the side, you know, with a few properties. This is why, while I was still in my previous life as an aerospace Engineer, in 200, I7 ended up upside down, right as values were going down. And this was in a property in Montana. And oddly, with the way tax liens work. I’ll talk about the difference here shortly. But the way tax lien sales work in Montana is that every prospective buyer of that tax lien must.
Brian Seidensticker [00:15:04]:
So every investor who wants to buy that tax lien has to send a certified letter to the property owner. And so I got all these certified letters from various investors, roughly the same verbiage, but all of them basically stating you could lose your real estate if you don’t pay your taxes, et cetera. And probably because of it, I didn’t realize this at the time. It wasn’t until probably the fifth time I was asked that question that a light bulb went off in my head, like, you know, what if I had gotten one letter from the county, like most states, I don’t know that I would have thought twice about it. But the fact that I got so many from private institutions, investors made me investigate what this whole delinquent tax lien, you know, thing is and, and realize, you know, there’s a whole, there’s a industry, well, I’ll say small compared to the, you know, greater real estate industry in the US but still 4 to 5, 4 to $5 billion on an annual basis that I never heard of, most people have never heard of and got me pointed in that direction, right? And this is me as an engineer by trade. I like big, juicy problems. I like something new. And so I recognized, all right, my real estate in the fix and flip realm that I was pursuing at the time wasn’t the best timing in the world.
Brian Seidensticker [00:16:19]:
Entering into the Great Recession, I found this whole tax lien thing, and basically redirected and pointed in that direction, and raised some funds to buy tax liens in a couple of states. That’s really how I got introduced to the space. Now.
Jay Conner [00:16:34]:
Let me get a little clarity on that story. Why were you receiving the letters?
Brian Seidensticker [00:16:41]:
Well, we were basically because we had taxes that were due on the property that we were fixing and flipping at the time. We were behind in our taxes in the way that Montana statutes, you know, govern, is when we, before the county sells a lien, right? And this will kind of help when I talk about the difference between taxing and a tax deed. So the county wants to balance the budget, they sell a lien, and then, you know, the buyer of that lien, at least in Montana, before they purchase it, has to send a certified letter to the property owner. And so that’s where I got to be the recipient of the property. I was the recipient of all of those certified letters from prospective buyers. So, okay, again, I was really on the wrong side of a tax lien, which is how I got introduced to it.
Jay Conner [00:17:18]:
I got you, I got you.
Brian Seidensticker [00:17:21]:
Now, as far as the difference between the two, I guess the long, the short description via tax lien is a, I like to compare it to a micro mortgage, right? It’s an interest in the property with enforceability behind it. But you don’t own the property if you buy a tax lien or a tax certificate. There’s different terminology for them; I’m going to call them tax liens. And so investors are buying these tax liens, but they are not owning the property. They are essentially lending some money to the government. And in exchange for that, they get a lien on the property. And so if the property ever sells, or what most happens, more likely or most often happens, the property owner does pay their taxes with penalties and interest, etc., then those penalties and interest and principal go back to the investor. The county’s happy, the investor’s happy.
Brian Seidensticker [00:18:10]:
You know, the homeowner goes on their merry way. No, what can happen if the property owner continues not to pay their property taxes? At some point, the lien holder can start a foreclosure of the property, a tax sale foreclosure that culminates just like a mortgage foreclosure, culminates in the resale of the property. And that, that sale of he property is what I call a tax deed. Right. Then now, tax deed investors, right, you’re buying the real estate, right? And I would say taxi investors are no different than any other real estate investors. They just understand this avenue of acquiring the real estate, which is a very specialized way of acquiring that real estate. And that’s the difference between a tax lien, which is the interest in the property, and the tax deed, which is buying the property itself.
Jay Conner [00:18:52]:
So, so clarification. A real estate investor invests in a tax lien. And if the owner of the property does not pay their taxes. Well, they do. They pay their taxes. And the interest, you know, now goes back to the real estate investor, and everybody goes on their merry way.
Brian Seidensticker [00:19:15]:
Right.
Jay Conner [00:19:15]:
But if they don’t, then the investor can foreclose at any time as stipulated by state law. Whatever. They can then foreclose. And if the taxes are not paid, the investor pays off, then the investor gets the property. Now that’s a tax deed, right?
Brian Seidensticker [00:19:40]:
Well, yes, but the only change that would be the. We’re going to get down some rabbit holes here. We can go as deep as you want, but there’s a recent Supreme Court case called Tyler vs. Hennepin that. That really plugged the hole of the lien holder becoming the owner of the deed. Right. Basically, what it stipulates is that there’s gotta be a sale of the property, like an auction. So there ends up being a second auction.
Brian Seidensticker [00:20:04]:
And so the lien holder forecloses, which results in a sale of the property. The sale. The property gets sold to a third party. That third party is the tax deed investor. Right. The lien investor gets made whole from the proceeds of that auction, but the lien holder does not become the owner of the property. At the end of the day, it’s a third party that does.
Jay Conner [00:20:23]:
So really, when you talk about tax liens and tax deeds, what you’re saying is that it’s two different lanes or opportunities that a real estate investor can get involved in. They can either invest in the tax lien or they can invest in a. In a. Get a tax seed by bidding at an auction like you would a foreclosure auction.
Brian Seidensticker [00:20:50]:
Exactly, exactly. You know, lean investors are not investors. Right. For anybody who has bought mortgages. Right. Deeds of trusts. Right. That sort of thing.
Brian Seidensticker [00:21:00]:
That is, tax liens fall into that category. It’s a real estate security versus tax deeds. Is. It’s real estate investing. Right. Not unlike buying any other type of real estate, it’s just a different type of sale.
Jay Conner [00:21:13]:
Perfect. Well, I just wanted to clarify that for the sake of our audience, because you know that. Those phrases are thrown around all the time. Tax liens, tax deeds. Okay. What’s the difference? How do you invest in that one? Like you said, with a tax lien, you’re actually investing in the note. Right. Tax deed, that’s like a foreclosure on a property, but instead of the.
Jay Conner [00:21:36]:
I think you called it a minute ago, a teeny mortgage, a small mortgage.
Brian Seidensticker [00:21:39]:
I call it a micro mortgage because there are so many similarities between a mortgage and a tax lien.
Jay Conner [00:21:45]:
Exactly, exactly. All right, so now we know how you got involved, you got involved on the other side because you’re rehabbing a property, and now here comes the tax, the tax lien, or tax sale. And so, we know the difference. But what is it about this avenue of real estate investing that you like better than single-family self-storage? I mean, why this lane versus multifamily or whatever?
Brian Seidensticker [00:22:19]:
Well, I think it’s, it’s not really wholly different, quite frankly. Tax deeds, right, is an avenue that you can acquire all of those different types of assets. And through our fund, right. And we work with local partners, some buy vacant land, some specialize in single-family homes. We have worked with a couple of folks who look for commercial opportunities and have purchased and funded a couple of commercial acquisitions as well. You know, there are some asset classes we don’t touch right now. Industrial, you know, farmland, that type of thing. We don’t, we just don’t have the right underwriting process.
Brian Seidensticker [00:22:57]:
But they’re not mutually exclusive, right? I think you look at the tax deed as just another way of acquiring those things. Now it’s different because you’re not buying a cash-flowing single-family rental, right? You’re buying a typically very distressed asset that does need a lot of work. And so, but I kind of use, if anybody’s watched HGTV shows, fix and flip all of those, you know, and they, they do a great job of picking the worst properties when you walk in. And it’s, you know, a hoard, a nightmare, and their stuff everywhere. And you know, I guarantee a large percentage of those are tax-out properties. So you can kind of imagine the type of real estate you’re buying, right?
Brian Seidensticker [00:23:38]:
And so I’m saying that to say it’s not, not for everybody, right? But if you want to acquire a piece of commercial real estate at a discount and you want to put the effort into making it into a cash-flowing commercial real estate, multi-family, or single-family, then tax deeds can be an avenue. And that’s really, you know, I just want to clarify that. The thing that probably appealed to me the most initially and continues to appeal to me is just how much I learn continuously on a day-to-day basis, right? It’s the learning, right? And then the, let’s say the daily satisfaction of seeing Something actually make progress, right. Which is not that different from any real estate, right? When you walk in at the end of the day or you get done painting the wall or swinging a hammer, you can actually see the progress that you made at the end of the day. So that, on top of the continuous learning, being an engineer mentally and by trade is like that scratches all those itches for me and has kept me engaged for the last, well, 18 years, and who knows how much longer. But it’s been a, it’s been a fun ride.
Jay Conner [00:24:43]:
Brianu, you’ve built this tech platform, and I’m the furthest thing in the world from tech, if you know what I mean. But, but, but I need it. I mean, I, I, I gotta have my data, right? Even if I’m not analyzing. I got somebody else to analyze. But you’ve built this tech platform around tax L, you’ve got the fund, right? So let’s talk about the tech platform. What is it? How does it work? What does it do? How has having better data actually helped you raise more capital, if that’s even a connection?
Brian Seidensticker [00:25:23]:
Well, I’d say having better data is key to our success, right? Has it been a direct result, or has it played a direct role in raising more capital? Maybe I don’t know how to make that direct connection, but I’m sure it’s been a, you know, a benefit or, or something that people go, that’s pretty cool. But really, weren’t you a fund? You know, we were, we shifted from a fund initially, I’ll call it a fund, but it really wasn’t, it was friends and family money at a small scale buying liens in Wyoming and Montana. It wasn’t enough to consider it even a full-time job. And that shifted pretty quickly to software. And we got out of buying liens for almost a decade before coming back to the fund model. But it really came about, of. I had a friend I met at a conference who was looking at what we were doing, and we built this platform as an internal tool for us to just know when and where these auctions are taking place in the properties that were involved in them.
Brian Seidensticker [00:26:23]:
It wasn’t like, you know, crazy rocket science stuff. It was answering those basic questions because nothing out there publicly was available to do those, the simple things. So all the investors at the time had an in-house team of people, a nd they were all individually calling all of these counties and having these conversations. And that friend basically suggested, Hey, why don’t you take this database, this website that I built for internal purposes, and make it available to the public, and maybe you’ll make a little bit and help pay your overhead. And that’s what we did. That’s really how tax sale resources came about. It’s a platform to track roughly 9,000 auctions a year, a couple of million properties that go to auction, and about 8 to 9 billion dollars in tax liens and deeds that get sold on an annual basis. And that’s what we did for 10 years, provide that information to third parties, both tax lien investors and tax deed investors.
Brian Seidensticker [00:27:17]:
The really cool part came about when we started tracking the results from those auctions, because not only did we have the answer to what’s going to be auctioned, but we knew where you could get the better deals at auctions, because not every auction is equal, and not every property is equal. And so, we spent several years putting it together. You know, now that the term is AI, you hear all over but it’s, you know, AI is just a, a complex algorithm that crunches a lot of data and says, hey, you know, these are the ones that you should, you know, look at buying because you’re likely going to get a better deal on those. And that’s really the start of creating Mountain Earth Capital. The fund had access to that data so that we knew which properties to buy at a discount, at a better discount, and which auctions to avoid because we knew you weren’t going to get any discount at those auctions. And that’s really where, you know, Taxa Resources as a data analytics provider is a key component of our success because it’s what points us, Mountain Earth Capital, in the right direction and buying the properties that we buy. But we put together the fund and actually executed on that; there really wasn’t any value in that information. And that’s really, you know, what we started in 2020, was initially trying to convince a bank to do what we’re doing.
Brian Seidensticker [00:28:30]:
We just wanted to really provide a funding mechanism to our customers, right, the users of our software platform. We’re trying to create the mentality of, if investors use our platform more obviously, we make more money, and they’ll use our platform more if they have access to capital. And so please bank right that we were trying to work with, could you figure out how to lend on tax deeds? And that’s something that still doesn’t really exist today, to our knowledge, you can’t get bank financing on tax deeds. That is a big nuance to this type of asset class.
Jay Conner [00:29:03]:
So let me. I’m sorry, go ahead.
Brian Seidensticker [00:29:07]:
No, go for it. That’s long. I’m really not good at short answers, Jay, if you haven’t noticed. But that’s how we got introduced into the.
Jay Conner [00:29:15]:
No, no, no. I like that. So, so, so let’s make, let’s make sure, let’s make sure all of our listeners are understanding. So you really have two services that you provide to real estate investors. You have the funds.
Brian Seidensticker [00:29:32]:
Right, Right.
Jay Conner [00:29:33]:
Real estate investors can borrow money to invest in tax liens, tax deeds, etc. Right?
Brian Seidensticker [00:29:43]:
Yeah, nuances. I guess. Technically, we’re not a lender. Right. So we don’t actually borrow. We work with, you know, pro. With investors on a profit share basis, it has access to capital to buy tax deeds. You’re exactly right on that front.
Jay Conner [00:29:56]:
Okay, so you got the fund, they can access capital, and then you partner with them, share partnerships, collaborate, etc. And then the other company you have in service is this company called Tax Sale Resources. So let’s, let’s really drill down on that. So first of all, it crystallizes one more time what service and information. So let’s say, so here I am in eastern North Carolin, and I want to start investing in, you know, tax liens, etc. And I’ve heard about Brian and this amazing company, Tax Sale Resources. How would I go about learning what services Tax Sale Resources provides?
Brian Seidensticker [00:30:48]:
So I like to, I like to say once you know what you’re doing, it’s all the tools that you need to be successful. What we are not is probably the better or easier way to answer is we’re not a coach, nd we’re not a mentor, we’re not an educator. Right. On how to invest in tax sales. And so that’s us. Now I say that because that’s not our service. We have a ton of free information, and that’s part of the resources that we have: a blog and a podcast. I interview attorneys who support tax investors in many states.
Brian Seidensticker [00:31:21]:
And in my opinion, obviously, I’m biased here, Jay, but I think it’s probably the best source of information, good, you know, legit information on tax sales in one place that you can find. But we’re not going to be the guide through all of that information. And at the end of the day, you get a certificate and say you’re ready to go.
Jay Conner [00:31:39]:
You’re not going to get on the phone, you’re not on the phone with a client, and say, yeah, you ought to invest in that one.
Brian Seidensticker [00:31:45]:
Right. That’s definitely not what we do. Now what we do is, I, and hopefully don’t ever get a cease letter for this. But I like to say, because most people are familiar with Zillow, right? As I say, the platform itself is a Zillow for Tax Sell properties. And so think of it as a mapping platform that allows you to go find everything that is up for sale today. Right. Four weeks from now, nationwide.
Brian Seidensticker [00:32:10]:
And that varies throughout the year because states have their sales at certain times of the year. And so you can’t go to North Carolina and find something at all times. You can’t go to Alabama at all times. Right. But throughout the year, the nation has sales, and we cover every auction that occurs. And so finding which auctions to attend, which properties to buy, and the information associated with those properties to make that buying decision is all in that platform. And so it’s the tools that you need to make all of those decisions and be successful in the space. Once you have an idea of what.
Jay Conner [00:32:42]:
You’re doing, and you just answered my next question, and then I want you to let everybody know how to get in contact with you, Tax Sale Resources, and all that kind of good stuff. So it sounds like Tax Sale Resources services the entire nation.
Brian Seidensticker [00:32:58]:
We do, we do. There are a couple of states that don’t have auctions, but outside of that, we do Track, you know, 9,000 plus auctions, almost 2 million properties, and just over 8 to 9 billion dollars of transactions annually in the space all through the platform.
Jay Conner [00:33:14]:
That’s amazing. Brian, please share with everybody. How do they find out more about Tax Sale Resources? How do they get in contact with you and the team and learn about signing up with you?
Brian Seidensticker [00:33:26]:
Well, Tax Resources is pretty straightforward. You just go to taxsaleresources.com, so if you’re interested in the, on the, on the software side, go there. If you’re interested in the capital side, which is really on either investing in the fund or actually wanting to utilize the funds, you know, from the fund. Right. And buying these assets, then you can go to www.MountNorthCapital.com, and either one of those avenues will point you in the right direction, and get you in touch with our team.
Jay Conner [00:33:55]:
Okay, well, that’s important to note there. Your fun, www.mou, nt I forgot Mount NorthCapital., com of course, all this will be in the show notes. If you’re looking to invest in a fund to get a nice return and be totally passive, Brian’s got that opportunity for you at MountNorthCapital.com. In addition to that, if you want to get access to capital for investing in tax liens, then Mount North Capital is a resource for that. And then in addition to that, www.taxsalesresources.com, if you’re interested in getting data in your area, wherever you want to invest in tax liens, Brian and his team’s got that available at www.taxsalesresources.com for you to take advantage of that and get the data. Brian, thank you so much for joining me on the show today. I really appreciate it. This was amazing. God bless you.
Brian Seidensticker [00:34:54]:
Well, Jay, I greatly appreciate you having me. Had fun.
Jay Conner [00:34:58]:
Thank you.
Brian Seidensticker [00:34:58]:
Luck, everybody.
Jay Conner [00:35:00]:
All right, and there you have it. Another amazing episode here on Raising private money. And if you would love for me to come back and have more amazing guests like Brian today, then all you have to do is share this episode with just one person. Share this episode with just one person who you believe this would make a difference in their life. And of course, give me a thumbs up like share. Subscribe. If you’re watching on YouTube, be sure to subscribe and click that bell so you don’t miss out on any other episodes. Looking forward to seeing you right here on the next episode of Raising Private Money with Jay Connor.
Narrator [00:35:42]:
Are you feeling inspired by the knowledge you gained in this episode? Then head over to www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide, that’s www.JayConner.com/MoneyGuide, and download your free guide that shares seven reasons why private money will skyrocket your real estate investing business. Right now. Again, that’s jconnner.com moneyguide to get your free guide. We’ll see you next time on Raising Private Money with Jay Conner.