Homework #2: the docket check on your three oldest Before the assignment, a promise that needs closing by name. On September 2, Carl posted a rep in the Start here thread: open your county's list from Homework #1, pick the three oldest sale dates, and for each one answer whether the docket shows any entry after the sale date. That comment included: "I'll mark the first 5 with what's actually checkable next." The marking never happened. Saying that plain, because a promise that quietly dies teaches the room the wrong lesson. What changed since: every member comment now gets a staff reply inside two hours, 9am to 9pm ET — no first-5 cap. Post your work and it gets answered. That is how the September 2 promise closes: not with five late marks, but with a standing rule that covers everyone. Now the assignment, formalized. Homework #2: the docket check on your three oldest. Take the county list from your Homework #1 pull. No pull yet? Homework #1 is up in the feed — one county list. Sort by sale date, oldest first, and take the top three. For each one, open the docket through whatever case search your county clerk publishes — and if the county doesn't publish one, say so; that counts as your answer. For each docket you can reach, two questions: can you find a deposit of sales proceeds — money in? And can you find anything like a disbursement or an order of distribution — money out? "Can't tell" counts if you show your work. Post your three lines below: county, case or parcel numbers, dates, and what you found. Never dollar amounts — the record carries those, we don't republish them. What this looks like when it's done: the Franklin teardown part 2 on September 16 ran this same check on the three oldest entries of that report. One showed a disbursement ordered in 2013. Two showed no visible disbursement entry more than twenty years after deposit. All three still printed on the county's August 20, 2025 report. The list tells you a case is still printing on it. The docket tells you what's been recorded against it.

This week's assignment, straight from the pinned post: 1. Pick ONE county. Your own, or any county in Florida, Texas, or Georgia — big auction states with public lists. 2. Find its surplus or excess proceeds list. Three ways: search "[county name] excess proceeds list" with site:.gov attached; go to the county clerk of court site and look under foreclosure sales; or check the tax collector / treasurer page for tax deed surplus. 3. Open it and answer three questions: When was this list generated? How many entries have both a name and an amount? What is the oldest sale date on it? Post your answers below — the county, your three answers, and anything that confused you. Confusion is data; the first list is the hardest one you will ever read. One rule: do not contact anyone on the list. That is not this assignment.

Starting this Friday, Oct 2, we're running a free 7-day sprint: First File in 7 Days. The goal is simple. By next Thursday you'll have one sourced file, or a clearly documented blocker, and a sharper question. It follows the sprint on page 18 of the Starter Map. How it works: - Each morning at 10 AM Eastern I post that day's step here in the community. - - Do the step, then drop a one-line update in the comments of that day's post. Counties and dates only. Never owner names, case numbers or dollar amounts. - - Day 7 (Thursday, Oct 8) ends at office hours, 7–8 PM Eastern, with Carl and Matt, live on Google Meet. Bring your file. What you need: the free Starter Map (surplusfundssecrets.com/starter-map), 30 to 60 minutes a day, and one county. Comment "in" below and name the state you're starting in. This is a research schedule, not a promise of a claim, a recovery or income.