Buying Tax Certificates

[Harry Williams]

What should be the minimum purchase cost of a Tax Certificates be considering ROI of filing Ejection Notice and other legal things.

[Denise Evans]

@Harry Williams, it depends on what the property is worth to you. Is it really worth $38,000 or is that just a tax assessed value? What can you sell it for? What can you rent it for? What can you use it for?

You add up the cost of acquisition, the cost of ejectment ($500 to $750) and cost of quieting title after three years ($1,500 to $5,000 depending on whether there are unknown heirs and depending on whether somebody fights or not) and the taxes paid in the meantime.  What is that total? Will it show a profit enough to justify the expense, or does the lost opportunity cost of your money outweigh the profit, and  you'd be better off investing your money in something else? That's what you have to ask yourself.

You should order a copy of Frank Gallinelli's book, "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow...and 36 Other Key Financial Measures."  It's on Amazon.  It should be your Bible for all financial analysis. He's a great writer, very easy to understand, pretty funny, and when you are finished with the book, you'll wonder why there was ever any mystery about how to do this stuff.