LEGAL Notifications after acquiring a tax line certificate

[Shawn Couch]

Hello fellow tax lien BP'ers.

I bought a few certificates last year at a sale in indiana.  These were lower end properties that has all basically been abandoned, but most were in decent condition.  Well, one was a partial burnout in a bad part of town, and one turned out to be a vacant lot, but the prices were super low and the net result has been that I have two multi-unit buildings that I got for a song, all things considered.  The niggest buzz kill is the long redemption period so a carry factor has to be included as well.  The resale market for these in an as-is basis is far from a deep pocket group, so keeping the remainder of the purchase costs down is a big plus.  

So I'm here to see if I can find an attorney, or paralegal that can work on these deals, or show me what to do, in order to keep the costs down.  I spent more money on attorney's fees than on the certificates at the last sale.  I also am curious how many folks run title, and/or go through the quiet title process after getting the tax deed.  That's another big expense, but a lot of people have a hard time taking title with just a quit claim deed.

Any and all input welcome, round 2 is only a few weeks out and although I don't feel like I made mistake in round 1, I'm still not feeling like an expert by any means.

[John Underwood]

Shawn,

I would market them on BP, Craiglist, possibly Ebay (I have sold tax lien properties on Ebay with good sucess). Find your local Real Estate club and market to them. I have always sold with a quiet claim deed to an investor with cash. You can also do the leg work and find the previous owners and offer them a couple hundred for their time to sign a Quiet Claim deed to you. There is the title insurance option instead of a Quiet Title. All of this you can do with out an attorney.

You can also fix up and rent any of the properties forever with out doing anything else with the deed.

Lower end properties you could possibly donate to a housing non profit for a tax write off.

John