Bexar County Tax lien

[Matt McConkey]

Hello BP Members. I've been sending out postcards to Bexar county residents with tax liens and I had a lead call me back. 

She's got a property that has around $30,000 in tax liens. The county assesses the property to be worth around $41,000. She also mentioned a leak in the roof. She's got money locked into the property, but she's ready to do be done. But comps are showing ARV around $70k for similar properties in the area. A smaller house on the same block sold for $106k, other sales range between $65k-$85k.

My question is: 

When purchasing a property with a tax lien, have any investors found the county to settle the back taxes for less than owed? 

[Seth Teel]

@Matt McConkey 

Bexar County won't settle back taxes with anyone but the current owner, and there's a 99.99% chance they won't do that. If you wish to purchase the property from the current owner, the back taxes will need to be paid in full. As mentioned above, you could wait until it goes to auction, but there is no rhyme or reason to when BCAD chooses to send a property to auction.  Legally, after 3 years of delinquent taxes it can go to auction, but I've bought houses that have had 10+ years back taxes unpaid and never gone to auction.  The worst part is Bexar County allows this to occur and taxes keep accruing, often times making the tax lien greater than the actual value of the property.