2016 Yavapai County Arizona Tax Lien Auction Results

[Jerry K.]

The 2016 annual Tax Lien auction for Yavapai county Arizona ended last week. I have the raw results data. There may be some slight changes since the official counts come out after all certificates are paid.

Number of liens sold to investors:

2016 - 1,880 (1,600 bought by investors - 280 Struck to County as no bidders)

2015 - 2,039 (1,808 bought by investors - because 231 struck to county as no bidders)

2014 - 2,575

2013 - 2,382

Total dollar of liens sold:

2016 - $1,874,010.88  ( $1,694,277.89 bought by investors and $179,732.99 not sold)

2015 - $2,678,533.35 ($2,336,551.03 bought by investors - $341,982.32 not sold)

2014 - $3,015,871.87

2013 - $3,435,014.32

Average rate of return overall:

2016 - 6.28% (5.25% by investors when subtracting out struck to county liens which all get 16%)

2015 - 6.75% (5.40% by investors when subtracting out struck to county liens which all get 16%)

2014 - 5.86%

2013 - 6.55%

Number of Investors who won liens:

2016 - 74

2015 - 89

2014 - 116

2013 - 201

Total Number of bids for all liens:

2016 - 8,823

2015 - 10,525

2014 - 18,812

2013 - 99,073,789

You bid down the interest rate in 1% increments from 16% down to 0%. Percentage with the most number of bids overall:

2016 - 4% had 2,680 bids at that rate

2015 - 6% had 2,391 bids

2014 - 7% had 3,542 bids

2013 - 4% had 36,251,623 bids

Most bids per lien/parcel:

2016 - 3 liens had 20 bids 

2015 - 7 liens had 24 bids

2014 - One lien had 41 bids

2013 - One lien had 470,295 bids

Created an interesting Pivot table where I grouped the liens by "Property Use Description". The county had no Use Description (#N/A) on 22 parcels that did sell in the auction. This table is based only on the liens that were purchased by investors. I eliminated the Struck to County liens that all received 16%:

The Vacant land again had decent interest rates, had a large number of liens available, and had the least amount of competition (bids). Residential liens (Primary Residence and Residential Other) had the second most number of liens but had the lowest rates and the highest competition (bids).

I'll post more on my BP blog (link below in the signature line) in the coming weeks.

[Jerry K.]

Originally posted by @Drew Darlington:

Hi Jerry! I'm wondering if you could help me out. I am new to tax liens and need a little guidance. I bought three just last week in coconino county in az. One of them said last tax payment was sept 15 2013... Does that mean I can for lose on the property this September? If I can, what are the steps I need to take? If you could answer I would be really grateful!!
Thanks,
Drew D

Drew, I'm not an attorney but here is how it has worked for me in AZ in the past. The rules for beginning a tax lien foreclosure are that it is 3 years from the date the original tax lien was issued. You bought your lien on 2/9/2016. The owner paid the 2013 taxes according to your research. That means they did not pay 2014 taxes, which would have originally been sold in the February 2015 Coconino auction.

Coconino county only allows one holder of a tax lien on a property. That means that if somebody bought the lien in 2015, they did not pay the subsequent taxes for the next year. When you bought the lien in 2016, you assumed the first lien from 2015 as well. You paid the 2015 lien amount plus interest to the first investor. 

Assuming all that is correct, you can't foreclose until February 2018. And you will have to pay the taxes each year until then (if the owner does not pay the taxes to redeem). It is 3 full years from the date of the lien - not the date of the last tax payment.

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong - that is the great thing about BP. I have begun tax lien foreclosures in AZ in the past and that is how it has worked for me to begin foreclosure.

I'll be posting a similar stats post for Coconino soon. I do this every year for a few AZ counties that I invest in.