2017 Arizona online tax lien auctions opening (January)

[Jerry K.]

The 2017 Arizona online tax lien auctions are opening up last week and this week. I've downloaded the lists for Yavapai and Coconino counties and did some initial work of adding the property types to the lien lists so I can better filter the liens I want to pursue. 

The auctions stay open for a few weeks so the investors can perform due diligence before placing their bids.

The number of liens available is similar to last year in both counties. Many liens will be withdrawn from the auction as the owners pay them off at the last minute, so the final count of the liens available will be smaller than the numbers below.

Interesting that Coconino has a new type listed; "NON-PRIMARY/BANKOWNED/NOT IN OTHER CLASSES RESIDENTIAL". I'll have to investigate what that means. I can't imagine 124 bank owned homes where the bank has not paid the taxes. But then again, it does happen where the banks just let a property go from time-to-time.

[John Underwood]

Jerry,

I have own several properties that I acquired through tax auctions that were bank owned, one was owned by Fannie Mae. If these are bank owned they may pay off the taxes at the last minute. Be especially careful of ones in the group. I drove by a house yesterday that had a FMV of 115k and looked nice on the Google Street view. It turned out to be boarded up with a condemned sign on it. I would want to find a local person to drive by anything you wanted to bid on and send you pictures unless it was someone you knew and trusted to to just say yes or no to bidding on the property.