Auction Property Due Diligence: What to Check Before You Bid

Mark Caron (00:00)
after, okay, you’ve won the property, it’s yours, and you also have second, third, and fourth liens for solar water treatment systems, window prop window treatments that were put on the house.

Anything that could be attached to that house that was not known about beforehand, you know about it now because those people are standing in line wanting their money before you make your profit on your first deal. So I think to put it simply, I’m trying to keep everyone from having five to ten unwanted partners on every deal that they didn’t know they wanted in the first place.

Joseph Crooms (02:04)
Hey everyone. Welcome to Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m here today with Mark Caron. I’m your host, Joseph Crooms, and today I’m joined by someone I’ve been looking forward to chatting with. Exciting, so I called his name first, but his name is Mark Caron And did I correct Mark?

Mark Caron (02:24)
Yes, sir, that’s the correct pronunciation.

Joseph Crooms (02:26)
Yes, he’s been doing serious moves and a unique benefit to real estate people that are looking to invest, but he’s in a completely different niche. I’m gonna let him speak more about that. so Mark say hello to everyone.

Mark Caron (02:40)
Hello everyone. Hope you’re having a great day today.

Joseph Crooms (02:42)
Thanks, Mark. I think our listeners are really going to take away something away from your unique business. I haven’t heard anything of really about it and real estate’s and I’ve been doing this for a while. So Mark, let’s dive right into it. So first of all, for people who are not familiar with your world, give us the short version. What’s your main focus these days? What markets are you operating in?

Mark Caron (03:06)
Well, the markets that we’ve decided to operate in, we’re decided to be almost a concierge servicer to private real estate investors. And we’re not putting any sort of a limit on that. The only limit is that we’re not going to work for corporations any longer. We’ve decided we want to help the individual meet their needs and make their dreams come true. And the way we’re doing that is providing them with accurate information on properties that they’re interested in investing in.

Joseph Crooms (03:32)
Mark, so you said you’re not gonna work for corporations anymore. first of all, how long have you been s have you started this business?

Mark Caron (03:40)
Well, the business is opened recently. We went live July first. It took us about six months to take and put everything together from scratch to to parts and pieces. And it took time to take all of the investigative leads that we needed and bring them into one spot so we can give you an accurate report quickly. one of the things that people will see if they go to our website, they’ll see that there’s several different types of reports that they can a ask for.

with different times related to them. So I can help you if you’re two or three days away from going to an auction. I can help you if you’re standing out in front of the property and the gavel is starting to be beaten about and you’re worried about whether or not you can safely make some kind of a bid on this property. And that’s what I mean by by not servicing corporate anymore. You know, corporate has always had the the luxury of guys like me

Floors of attorneys, people with years of experience in investigation and research. So we can go and we can look at a piece of property for them and tell them start to finish, okay, here’s where it’s good, here’s where it’s bad, here’s where you need to stay away from. You know, the average person with a real estate license who just wants to speculate a little bit, they don’t have access to that type of information. And I think it’s time that they do. So that’s why now in in this part of my career.

I’ve decided to open this concierge sort of as reporting business that people can have that type of access to that information, make better, wiser choices, keep themselves from getting into trouble, and really having a catastrophe happen. You have to know before you bid because all those little secrets that are hiding in a deed, in a trust, in a background, homeowners association liens, mechanics liens.

Things that don’t show up on the normal everyday report. We s for we furnish for everyone.

Joseph Crooms (06:27)
Mark, I like what you’re saying. I and I like the your your mission statement more or less. how are you positioning your business?

Mark Caron (06:34)
We’re starting out slow at the moment. We want to get our our our legs underneath us and see exactly what’s going to be the best way to reach the consumer base that we want. So of course we’re hitting social media at the moment and we’re putting ourselves in those groups that we want to service. The people that want to invest, the small real estate brokers, small real estate people. People that have just got their their license, people that need help. That’s who we’re going to try to appeal to first.

and let it grow from there. But the door will always remain open to them, just not to corporate. If corporate comes knocking, we’re not gonna answer.

Joseph Crooms (07:12)
Mark what markets are you looking to I guess you can all what what markets are you actually attacking right now?

Mark Caron (07:19)
Both residential and commercial.

Joseph Crooms (07:21)
And where market areas or what parts of the states are you looking to?

Mark Caron (07:25)
nationwide. We have no limits on the data that we can provide and where we can provide it to. everything really is an open book to us. And it doesn’t matter if it’s the lower forty eight or the entire fifty one, we can cover it.

Joseph Crooms (07:37)
So Mark, were you was your original business corporate? Were you working for someone or were you sorta independent then?

Mark Caron (07:45)
No, I’d worked the last twenty-five years for a major corporation. the five before that was for a government entity. And I was responsible for gathering information on properties that were going to be more or less taken away from a person for whatever reason, whether it was back taxes or non-payment. So when I worked for the corporation, they would come to me and say, Look, here’s this piece of property, research it, tell us whether or not we want this in our portfolio or not.

Is it something that we can pick up and take back and it’s gonna make us money? Or is it something that’s just gonna simply continue to generate rent?

Joseph Crooms (08:20)
And so so this is a brand new business. You said you just kicked off this July, am I correct?

Mark Caron (08:25)
Correct. Yeah, we went live July 1.

Joseph Crooms (08:27)
Okay. And so so what shaped you to say this is the way I’m gonna go? What shaped what was it your mindset?

Mark Caron (08:34)
I was very fortunate to grow up with a military background and then go into private practice. You’re very welcome. Uhing that I always had a safety net. I always had a a backup. That was always there. There was someone that I could always go to: a mentor, a superior officer, someone else in the office. And when you’re running your own real estate company, when you’re running your own investment company.

Joseph Crooms (08:42)
Thank you for your service.

Mark Caron (09:03)
lot of people don’t have that. They’re just flying blind on this and they’re making their decisions and hopes that it’s gonna work out. I want to bring a little bit to them to give them the information that they need to feel more secure about what it is that they’re doing. Real estate has always been something that has existed, will exist, will always exist, but they’re not making any more of it.

Property is all that’s out there and it needs to be handled in such a fashion where everybody is being taken care of. There’s so many different things that happen out there right now. illegal property flipping is something that that I’ve dealt with a lot in in my career. different forms of asset protection. There’s all kinds of nasty things that are out there at the moment.

That people are doing in order to strip equity out of a property before they sell it and do it in such a way that it doesn’t show up on any report that you’re gonna have a look at until that last minute

after, okay, you’ve won the property, it’s yours, and you also have second, third, and fourth liens for solar water treatment systems, window prop window treatments that were put on the house.

Anything that could be attached to that house that was not known about beforehand, you know about it now because those people are standing in line wanting their money before you make your profit on your first deal. So I think to put it simply, I’m trying to keep everyone from having five to ten unwanted partners on every deal that they didn’t know they wanted in the first place.

Joseph Crooms (11:11)
Mark, how lar how large is your team that you started your your franchise with?

Mark Caron (11:16)
right now we’re at twenty two people. We’ll be at thirty by August first and I anticipate forty five to fifty by December first.

Joseph Crooms (11:24)
And can you s describe some of those key roles?

Mark Caron (11:27)
Everyone has a job to do. So when the information comes in, there’s a certain desk that treats one portion of what we’re looking at. I may have three or four people that are working particularly on deeds. second, third, and fourth mortgages, background on the property, wherever that person happens to be a specialist and excels. If they don’t, we trade them to. We get them to the point that they excel at that one point. So I know when I hand you a product, I know it’s perfect.

because I’ve got the people that are absolute perfectionists in their field working at it to generate that report for you.

Joseph Crooms (12:02)
How much it’s not a word just the correct way. So a new business, how much did you carry over and say what what is your what is your volume that and and revenue that you think that you’re going to produce in the next six months?

Mark Caron (12:21)
⁓ I’d say approximately between one hundred and seventy five and two hundred thousand dollars.

Joseph Crooms (12:26)
And and and why do you think that, Mark?

Mark Caron (12:29)
We’re looking at the way the market is moving right now, both commercial and and residential real estate, taking a look at what’s happening to interest rates and seeing where things are moving throughout the United States. The the data center issue, for instance. You know, wherever data centers go, more people go to help them build it, more people go to help them run it. Those people gotta live somewhere. So we’re able to accurately track in advance.

of where we think we’re going to start seeing business from. So we’ll actively go ahead and let the people in that area know that our services are available if they need them.

Joseph Crooms (13:05)
Have you landed any I know it’s we’re just in July. Have you had any customers say yes to your service?

Mark Caron (13:14)
Well let’s see. July second, when we flipped everything on, I believe we had eighty two or eighty three requests sitting in the email inbox. And it runs anywhere between twenty five to forty five requests a day.

Joseph Crooms (13:29)
And and how do you build Mark? I mean, what is your building system like?

Mark Caron (13:33)
Our billing system is you pay with a credit card when you order your your report. So it’s already paid and

That’s taken care of, it’s above my pay grade as my my boss used to say. But I let the the financial people take care of that and I sit here and make sure the people get accurate data.

Joseph Crooms (13:50)
I got you. So so so so I I guess my question is, it’s it’s a pay as you go. You you the the the way that you g you can get so much volume is because your your service is short term or is it long term? How would you describe it?

Mark Caron (14:05)
It’s long term depending on how you want to use it. there are people who will see this and say, Okay, there’s that piece of property that I’ve always wanted, but I’ve never been able to find anybody to find out whether they wanted to sell it or not. You’ll pick up onesie twosies in that kind of situation. you’re gonna get offices, and we do. We’ve had several already sign up that have said, Okay, y you are you’re a reasonable expense.

for what we do every day. So if I’m paying you for a report and it saves me thousands of dollars in legal fees, it’s easy for me to tack what I’m paying you onto every deal.

Peace of mind.

Joseph Crooms (15:27)
Yeah. I now I know a lot of people listening are are either early in their journey to looking to level up and and really the prospect of hearing about your business. I think they’ll benefit from this. When it comes to building relationships and growing your network, what’s been the biggest difference for you? ‘Cause your team to open up in July, it’s pretty big.

Mark Caron (15:47)
Well, okay, there’s a a bunch of answers there. The the team is pretty big because I brought people along with me when I left SERPS. They knew I was leaving, they didn’t want to stay there. I told them not a problem. I’m opening up a new venture because I’ve been thinking about this for over two years. So I already had the idea of germinating growing away. I took them with me and they were all told this is a risk. This could work.

Maybe it doesn’t. Or we’re going to give it shot. And I laid everything out for them and showed them where it could or could not work. And if you wanted to be part of it, I’d love to have you. I’ve got investigators calling me on a daily basis saying, hey, I’d like to get out of what I’m doing and get into something not only a bit safer, but something that’s going to see an end result that we can all live with. And let me let me explain that.

In we in investigations sometimes you’re dealing with very sensitive subjects, very s subjects that are very not polite. And it’s hard to work that kind of work every day. ⁓ you may only be doing property research, but you’re doing it for a branch of the government that covers people that commit heinous crimes in the fact of how they’re doing it. Nobody wants to look at that every day.

So I’ve had people come to me and say, hey, I’d I’d like to slow down a little bit. You know, you think you could find a spot for me? as far as interfacing with the public itself, you’re seeing it right there. I’m a live individual. I’m not talking to people. I’m not just advertising. I’m just being AI do all the work for me. I’m going to the MLS meetings. I’m talking to people. I’m shaking their hands. I’m letting them know what’s available.

doing podcasts like this, letting people know what’s available. So it’s yeah, it’s it’s artificial intelligence, but it has a a human quality to it that you’re just not gonna get just from the machine itself.

Joseph Crooms (17:46)
So Mark allow me to come back to this question again. So your organization s sounds very not simplicity but makes sense on how you organize it. Can you just name me some of the key components of your business structure? Let me phrase it that way. Who are some of the players? Or the players?

Mark Caron (18:11)
Most of the players are going to be investigators and they’re going to work on the floor and they’re going to work on particular parts of investigations. An investigation is made up of your typical beginning, middle, and end, but there’s so much more that’s to it in the middle of that that you have to look at and qualify. Someone that’s going to do records research on a county level. Someone’s going to do records research on a state level. Someone that’s going to qualify everything that they’ve already looked at.

This business works just like any other investigations firm or any other investigations group, where we’re anticipating this information being used as admissible in court. So everything that is prepared is prepared to ⁓ a high legal standard. That the report that I hand you at the end of the day is 100% accurate, 100% legal, and I can stand on everything that’s on that report. One person can’t do that.

Ten people can’t do that. You need enough people to handle the individual parts of an investigation, to bring them all together, to make it all work.

Joseph Crooms (19:16)
Mark, do you have a a a brick and mortar? Or

Mark Caron (19:19)
No, we we have a brick and mortar location here in Phoenix, Arizona.

Joseph Crooms (19:22)
And and so you have a office building and that’s where you house most of your workers?

Mark Caron (19:27)
I give people the opportunity they can work remotely two days a week if they’d like, but it’s only if they’re in a position where they don’t have to have hands on actual documents during the day.

Joseph Crooms (19:37)
the so so you so you you mentioned that you had a finance person. You have you are you the CEO or what what is your position?

Mark Caron (19:43)
I’m a CEO. I’m I’m where the buck starts and stops. So that’s my my position here. But I’m also the lead investigator. and I have to be, because anything that I produce, that my people produce, have to be something that I’m capable of not only understanding, but replicating myself. I can’t ask someone to do a job that I’m not qualified to do myself. Because if I do, I have no idea whether to do in a good enough job or not. Because I don’t understand.

Joseph Crooms (20:09)
And if you was to sell your business right now, what do you think is worth?

Mark Caron (20:13)
boy, that’s a rough question. given what it is, given the projections on it, anything under one point five or one point seven wouldn’t even be worth looking at. And that’s simply because of you’re gonna walk in and you want a turnkey business with everything already there, all the infrastructure done, all the electronics work done, all the IT work done.

everything put together, everything qualified, everything gone through legal. It’s a lot of work.

Joseph Crooms (20:44)
How long were you in the planning stage of say boom? Now we’re ready.

Mark Caron (20:46)
About eight months.

Joseph Crooms (20:47)
Wow. Well, Mark, thank you for sharing these things. your your questions that I asked, they they were a little off how enormous so ’cause you know you’re a pr a very promising more than I won’t say a new business, but a new shape on on how you think about and how you protect real estate. Thank you for that. Yes, yes. So you can’t fake that and and relationships and everything in this place if all right.

Mark Caron (21:09)
Well you’re probably.

Joseph Crooms (21:16)
Before we wrap up, if someone wanted to reach out to you more, connect with you, maybe collaborate, learn more about what you’re doing, what’s the best way to reach out to you?

Mark Caron (21:27)
The best way would be go right to the website www.deedscope all one word deedscope.ai and the ask Mark a question box is right there and yes I read every single one of them. There I don’t have an assistant that reads my email or or answers my phone for me. I do it all myself.

Joseph Crooms (21:50)
Mark, repeat it w please repeat again ’cause somebody was looking for a pen trying to get that information.

Mark Caron (21:54)
absolutely. It’s www.deedscope.ai. ⁓

Joseph Crooms (22:07)
Thank you, Mark. perfect. Well, I appreciate you. your time, your story, your perspective, your your approach to a need. And you know, and and and thank you for solving a problem, especially to our real estate break brokers and new people listening. Get on board. You need this. we need more people in this space who are doing it the right way. Thanks again for being here, Mark. And for those of you tuning in.

I know you got some value from this. I hope you’re taking notes, but more so make sure you subscribe because we got more conversations coming with operators just like Mark Caron, who are who’s who’s not only building a real business, a business to help people, communities, prosper. So we’ll see you on our next episode of Investor Fuel Real Estate Pros podcast. Mark Caron is here. Mark, tell me to talk to him later.

Mark Caron (22:59)
Talk to you later, guys. Have a good day.