Florida Tax Lien Question

[David Polcari]

I've been exploring tax liens as I work my way through the various avenues of real estate investing. Something that's intrigued me so far has been the county owned tax liens in Florida. I've noticed a lot of the county owned liens have tax certificates that have been held over two years, up to 5-6 years in some cases. These properties have new liens up for sale but I'm hesitant to buy any because I'm not sure why the certificate holders haven't started the foreclosure process even though they are years past the required redemption period (2 years in Florida). What would cause a certificate holder to not start the foreclosure process or are these instances where they have started the process and they've just dragged out for a few years? What would be your risk exposure if your purchased the most recent certificate from the county? Thanks y'all!

[Josh Carr]

@David What I have found out in the course of the tax lien world with Florida is that many times a person who holds the older lien will wait to see if any of the other lien holders, providing that they are past the 2 year redemption period, will go forward with the foreclosure instead.  The main reason I find is that the older lien holders won't have the cash to complete the process because of the additional funds required.  If the oldest lien holder does not foreclose on the property by applying for the tax deed then their lien expires.  It happens and it's not something anyone would like to have happen but usually from the lack of funds it does happen.