Vacant property in Texas, want to purchase tax lein

[Jessica Hughes]

So the other day I was driving around while my son was napping, and happened on a really jacked up vacant property, all boarded up and overgrown, in a fairly nice neighborhood in Collin County Texas. Lot is fantastic, gorgeous trees, a lot of potential. 

Looked into county records and theres about 23 grand in back taxes on it, about 8 years delinquent. Thinking about going to the county and seeing about purchasing it. Could sell the lot to a couple Chip n Joanna's for like 60 to 70 (this area is crawling with flippers).  If I rip the boards off and it's in better shape than expected, I could fix it up and rent it for 1450 or so in that area. 

Never done this before. I Googled the basics about maybe it's on an auction list and you buy the lein and evict and all that. 

If the property is vacant, what legal sort of loopholes do you have to go through to technically evict someone? What are some of the possible out of left field costs that might pop up that I should keep in mind?

I have a vague understanding of the basics and that's about it. I need like, a solid breakdown

[Jerel Ehlert]

Texas Tax Deed:  Taxing authorities (county, school, mud/pud, etc.) file suit against owner and property for unpaid taxes.  Judge signs order to sell.  Sheriff executes sale at foreclosure auction.  Taxing units paid from proceeds of sale.  Buyer gets a Sheriff's deed (title) to the property.

Tax Liens:  Taxing authorities sell their lien for unpaid taxes at auction and get paid from selling the LIEN.  Buyer gets a lien against the house and may or may not be able to go through a judicial foreclosure to get paid after a number of years.

There are a number of ways to get title slowly.  Adverse possession by paying back taxes, filling affidavit, waiting the requisite number of years (paying the taxes those years too), then filing a suit against the unknown heirs.

Spend the time/money to track down ANY heir, get contract to buy, open probate, get determination of heirship order, close normally (paying taxes out of purchase price).

Keep in mind, that to get an eviction against a tenant, one of the criteria you have to prove up is superior title to the property.  If you are a stranger to the transaction, you have no greater claim to possession than the tenants, and they can say you have no claim to charge rent.  To get insurance, you have to have an insurable interest.  Paying taxes gets you there, but squatting doesn't.  Improvements might, but shaky.