Tax Liens and Deeds

One place to start is to determine your investment criteria. What you have to invest, how long you can let it be out, what rate of return you want, etc. Then you need to choose an area that meets your investment criteria. You will find a lot of variations from county to county even within the same state. It is best to go directly to the office that handles these sales (tax authority, tax assessor, sheriff, etc) and gain informaiton as to when they hold their sales, types of sales, and the CURRENT returns, bidding process, restrictions and redemption period for the lien certificates and even deeds you are looking to buy in that area. Many of the counties will offer hand outs or informaiton on their websites about the upcoming sales and the details of how to bid.

It is at least a start in the right direction.

Thank you very much for the info.

Please realize that tax sales investing involves a lot more than participating in the auctions. For example, tax liens can yield immediate income provided one opts to flip that lien via the secondary market.

Joel Moskowitz wrote an excellent book on tax sales. Larry Loftis presents several strategies in his book on tax sales. You might also want to check out some of Rick Dawson's and/or John Lane's materials.

Plus, a decent knowledge of tax sales will help give one some leverage in certain negotiations.

Tax sales can definitely be tricky and I have been faced with the probably the worst situation one could get into.

Prior to tax sales there is no showing of the property, no survey done, etc. So you have to be diligent about doing a background search at your local court house. If you are able to find out the name of the title company sometimes they will tell you the name of the survey company where you can at least get that. In the state of Texas there is a right of redemption for the first 6 months if it is not homesteaded. If it is Homesteaded then there is a right of redemption for two years. The right of redemption can be purchased from the prior owner and will help when you try to get title insurance. I could write a book on my experience but will keep it short for this post.

I have been told that all liens except for IRS liens are not applicable through tax sales. Please consult a real estate attorney in your area to confirm.

Patience is king here. In some states you may have to hold on to those for up to 4 years. But you are making interest on it regardless.

Also keep in mind that your initial investment cover the back taxes to that point and that the owner may incur additional fees.

The upside to this is that you may walk away with a property for pennies on the dollar.

One of my students bought one for 4,000.00 and ended up with the property in a year which was valued at 55,00.00. that my friend is not a bad return!

Randy Bailiff
Dean Graziosi Real Estate Coach

One thing that people often forget is that the law in each state is different regarding tax liens and deeds. There are states that are more investor friendly than other states. Also, knowing and understanding exactly what your investment goals are will go a long way in helping you to find success.

You should know the difference between a lien and a deed. You should understand if you buy a lien will you be able to foreclose and own the property if the owner doesn't pay? Also, you should know what the foreclosure process is for the state you are buying your lien. Finally, should you be buying at the auction or over the counter?

You can make great money on liens and deeds. There is no reason you can't make 16% to 18% regularly on liens. With deeds there is more due diligence that must take place, but it can be done. The key is to be willing to WORK! The work is spent in combing lists to find properties that meet your needs.

Roy Voeks
Dean Graziosi Real Estate Coach

My husband and I will be doing our first Property Tax investment this year. In the past when our tax returns came in, we would run out and just spend it 'til our money was gone. Then we would look at each other and ask, "where did it all go?" This year will be differant.
After attending a Conference which was held near by, we came home with an idea of how we could invest our tax returns rather then blow it. We pulled up several county websites in our area and WOW!!! The property right next to us is up for the picking!!! We already know the history of the property because our property was origanally a part of the same property.
It is interesting to look through the different counties. I even found that my own brother was about to lose his property because he was behind on his taxes. Yes, with out his knowledge, I paid his taxes for him. I asked the county clerk to just mark it paid in full with no name attached. The following week I checked it again and it was marked just as I had asked.

Doesn't Dean's course "Tax Liens and Deeds" offer liens, which are within 30 - 90 days of their redemption period expiring??? Thanks!

Yes Some of them are. However not all of them and you do again have to do you do dilligance on that as well. If you have questions on that it is best to ask questions with the county you want to work in.

that was very nice of you to pay your brother's taxes!
Did you sign up with a program from one of DG's conferences where you can buy the tax liens, or do you just go to the county websites?

thanks for sharing this information,

Yes, that was kind of you to pay your brothers taxes, Lord will Bless you 10 times Fold. By the way, did it hurt when you fell from the Heavens?

Romaluv22

signing out,

The brother might assume that the taxes were paid by the mortgage company through his escrow payments for T&I.
Mossyoak

At a seminar I attended in March Steve Johnson spoke about a listing that Dean offers. He said that they purchase large amounts of tax leans from banks and all of the research is already done. All you have to do is purchase the Lien and wait for it to expire. Does this system work as easy as it sounds?

At a seminar I attended in March Steve Johnson spoke about a listing that Dean offers. He said that they purchase large amounts of tax leans from banks and all of the research is already done. All you have to do is purchase the Lien and wait for it to expire. Does this system work as easy as it sounds?

At a seminar I attended in March Steve Johnson spoke about a listing that Dean offers. He said that they purchase large amounts of tax leans from banks and all of the research is already done. All you have to do is purchase the Lien and wait for it to expire. Does this system work as easy as it sounds?

At a seminar I attended in March Steve Johnson spoke about a listing that Dean offers. He said that they purchase large amounts of tax leans from banks and all of the research is already done. All you have to do is purchase the Lien and wait for it to expire. Does this system work as easy as it sounds?

Good morning I am new to this and I found what I thing is a good one there ( and after reading what you all said ) I am going to go back and have to do some more looking at it they have not paid there tax sence 2008 and I am trying to get a friend to buy it but he want to know how long his money well be tied up can he buy it and foreclose on it or what the whole time frame is this house is in Texas

where can I find tax liens in colorado

I just had an experience with an on-line auction. A nice house had a tax value at $204,900 with a 4 yr tax delinquency amounting to a total of $17,600.

We had to place a deposit of $285 via a wire transfer to a bank in Maryland.
The State of Idaho does not post information online about who owns the property, so we went to the County Courthouse, and checked with the Recorder's Office. There I was told that this property was owned by JP Morgan Bank. Now of course the Bank owned 500+ properties, and it would have been up to me to go through each and every 500+ documents at the court house to find out what the specifics of any liens, encumbrances, easements, or judgements were tied to this specific property. That would have taken me at least somewhere between 1 hour (when lucky) and 3 days (when unlucky). So of course the clerk told me that in those cases, they refer you to a title company to do that work for you. Alas, the title company charges $500 to do a Title search with all the specifics. It can be a tricky thing to have to go up against a Bank to get any liens cleared. Also if one is so lucky to have the winning bid, the Bank has a 120 day redemption period, in which they are entitled to buy back the property.

Obviously they would have to pay back the money you paid + incurred interest, so it definitely takes a lot of patience.
For me it was a good exercise in participating at an online auction. I got outbid within 13 minutes. Oh well - next time better!

Pat

Arizona is an excellent state for tax lien certificate sales. Why???

Interest Rate

16%

Redemption Period

3 years

Arizona tax lien auctions

All county tax lien sales are in February

Arizona tax deed sales

Arizona conducts tax deed sales through the Board of County Supervisors. Most sales are held in November and December but a few counties have the sales in March.

Bidding Process

All auctions are by competitive bid.

State Specific Information

Arizona is probably one of the most famous tax lien states because the interest rate of 16% per year is favorable and if the property goes to foreclosure, the process of obtaining the deed to the property is straightforward. After three years, the investor can obtain the property by applying to the court for a deed to the property.

Also, many counties have tax liens and full parcels of land for sale throughout the year. To get a list of all parcels that are still available after the tax lien sale, listings are available as a printout or on diskette for $50 from the client services department at the Treasurer’s office. Also called assignment purchasing, potential buyers can send a list of the parcels they want to purchase to the Treasurer’s office and a certified check/cashier’s check/wire money transfer to purchase tax liens that were not sold at auction.

Randy Bailiff
Dean Graziosi Real Estate Investment Coach

There are a lot of states that are good. I would like to share with you some of the best states and the highest interest rates out there. However keep in mind that some of the places that I am going to mention will require that you be there in person in order to invest there.

Places that require you to physically go there:
- Texas, 25% return for 6 months and 50% for the year.(these rates are flat penalties, so no matter when they pay back)redemption period is 6 months or 2 years depending on the type of property.
- Georgia, 20% Flat penalty. 1 year redemption
- Tennessee, 20% flat penalty. 1 year redemption
- Maryland, 6-24%(depends on the county) 6 month redemption!

Places that you will be able to do online or through the mail:
-Arizona, 16% per annum. 3 year redemption.
-Colorado, 9% + the prime lending rate for that year. (last year was 10%) with a 3 year redemption.
-Alabama, 12% flat fee, 3 year redemption.
-One of my favorites Florida, 18% with a minimum of 5% and a 2 year redemption.

These are some great places to get started with and if you need to find out more info all you have to do is talk to the county treasurer or tax collector and they can give you more information. its all public records.

Eric Rosquist
Dean Graziosi real estate investment coach.