First tax deed auction will pay for advice

[Esmeralda Casas-Silva]

I have found a home I am interested in bidding on at the upcoming San Diego tax deed auction. The auction starts Feb 28. I have done alot of due diligence but want to be sure I'm not missing anything.  I am looking for expert to answer questions and provide guidance through process. 

[Dan H.]

Let me save you some money having participated in this auction before.  The odds that the house you desire actually makes it to the auction I place at less than 1 in 20.  Do not pay for any advice until maybe 3 days before the auction when your odds may be 1 in 4.

Unfortunately I am indicating this property is unlikely to make it to auction.  You will see and learn what I am telling you and will be glad that you did not spend anything.

3 days prior to the last auction we still had ~4 (I cannot remember exactly) candidate properties that was down from an initial list of ~24.  We ran preliminary title check on the 4 properties (no charge as we used a contact).  Only one of the 4 properties went to auction.  We bid over 70% of comp value but it sold for over 80% comp value (interior unseen).

My feeling is the process is broken.  By the time buyers are starting to investigate (i.e. by the time a property is placed on the potential auction list) it should be too late for the owners to recover.  With allowing the owners to recover, the time commitment from purchasers becomes excessive driving off some potential buyers which results in less than top price.  For example, we have not decided if we are even going to investigate this year as we have enough things to keep us busy (we still have 2 units being rebuilt from fire).

If you go through the process, maybe you can remember to update this thread on what you learned.  I would be interested if your opinion matches my opinion.

Good luck