last minute strike-offs on tax sales?!

[Mark Mays]

I reside in Houston and have been attending sheriff tax sales on the courthouse steps for a while. I've been doing my research and normally narrow down my potential buys to about 5 properties. It seems time and time again the properties get struck-off the night before or the morning of the auction.

So my basic question how does this "really" happen? People that don't have money for several years all of a sudden get if off the auction list the day before because they mysteriously found money? Or is there some other angle that gets played behind the scenes that I'm not aware of?

Thanks in advance for your response!

[Annunciata R.]

My strategy in purchase was to go for the least desired properties. I left all the houses out of the picture. I came with a couple of real estate brokers, they expected to bid on houses while I came expecting to bid on land. In the end the houses went for more than market value. I wasnt entirely happy initally with what I had. One in particular is just a 2750sf lot. When I called the city she sort of laughed and said how am I going to fit a 2 car garage as well as build a house on it! but if you look at the lot you can see the ground is raised. So my goal is to go subterranean. I have never built from ground up before but at least I have something to start with.