Metro Detroit County auctions

[Sam S.]

Any investors with experience in county auctions? Success stories? Failures? Much appreciated. 

[Rick VanRyckeghm]

Sam,

I have bought some properties at the Oakland county Tax auction.  The properties I purchased were not that expensive ($10-20K) and needed quite a bit of work.  The process is pretty straight forward.  You register ahead of time, look at the houses on the list, show up on auction day and bid.  It sounds easy, but the hardest part is trying to view the houses ahead of time.  Some of the houses are occupied, so you will need to either evict the current occupants or offer them cash to leave.  

Please read my notes below as to my experiences/opinions of you want to buy some houses at auctions...

1) Some cities have already been inside the properties, so you would need to check with the cities to see of there are any issues/tickets/demolition orders/fees/fines on the houses before you bid on them.  I don't suggest you go the each city with a list of 30 properties...they will not be that helpful.  

2) If you want to sell them or get a mortgage on them (after you already bought them) you will need to get clear the title.  I have used www.quiettitle.com to get a clear title, so I can get a cash out mortgage.  They charge about $1,500 per property.

3) Be prepared to walk into vacant houses with broken pipes and need a lot of work.  Most of my vacant houses have had been winterized in the middle of winter, so the pipes are already broken.  Just because it has a winterized sticker doesn't mean it was done correctly. 

4) The auctions are a cash only (or more accurately...money order/certified check only).  In Oakland county you have to pay the current years taxes (not required to be on the same day as the auction) before they will send you the deed...actually a "Deed pursuant to Act 123 of 1999"  This goes back to item #2, because most banks/title companies don't like these deeds and won't loan against them or give you title insurance)

5) Make sure you submit a property transfer affidavit after you buy a property within 45 days to avoid the $200 fine.

The process wasn't that complicated, but once you know the whole process it is a good way to get some deals on houses...with some risk.