2017 Yavapai County Arizona Tax Lien Auction Results

[Jerry K.]

The 2017 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.

Rates were up this year along with the number of liens available, total $ sold, and number of winning investors. Total number of bids were up a little this year too, but nowhere near the 2013 bids.

Number of liens sold to investors:

2017 - 2,141 (1,902 bought by investors - 239 Struck to County as no bidders)

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:

2017 - $2,175,069.34 ($1,890,259.85 bought by investors and $ $284,809.49 not 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:

2017 – 7.26% (5.94% by investors when subtracting out struck to county liens which all get 16%)

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:

2017 - 97

2016 - 74

2015 - 89

2014 - 116

2013 - 201

Total Number of bids for all liens:

2017 – 10,550

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:

2017 – 5% had 1,315 bids

2016 - 4% had 2,680 bids

2015 - 6% had 2,391 bids

2014 - 7% had 3,542 bids

2013 - 4% had 36,251,623 bids

Most bids per lien/parcel:

2017 – 3 liens had 23 bids

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 a Pivot table where I grouped the liens by "Property Use Description". The county had no Use Description (#N/A) on 26 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%:

Click on image to see larger version of table.

[Justin Owens]

@Jerry K. Thanks for sharing this data. The rates of return, those are annualized rates right? IF someone paid a lien off next month they would just pay the prorated interest, correct?

[Ned Carey]

@Justin Owens Usually that is the case. I don't know specifically about AZ. @Jerry K.

I have gotten checks after a month and received only $5.00 interest in MD. It hardly sees worth the effort for that. Tax liens tend to work best if you have some volume to average out the returns, or you specifically target properties that have higher odds you may be able to acquire them.

[Jerry K.]

@Justin Owens Yes that would be an annualized rate. Divide by 12 months and that is how much you earn as of the first day of each month in AZ. I've had a couple of liens pay off in the first month after the auction in AZ over the years. Each county can have a fee that does not earn interest for each lien. You have to check the rules for each county, they state it up front.

Typical fee is $10, so if the owner redeems in the first month, you can lose money. That's right, despite what the gurus say, you can lose money in liens. I've seen people buy a lien that was $25 in taxes, for 16% annual return with an additional $10 fee that did not earn interest. It would take 2.5 years just earn the $10 fee via the interest! And if the owner redeemed early...

[Ned Carey]

My records show that about 5% or the liens redeem every month. However I deal in more distressed properties and my redemption rate is probably a little slower than average. 

[Glen Doering]

@Ned Carey What characteristics of a property do you feel give you higher odds you may be able to acquire them?

[Ned Carey]

@Glen Doering

Dumb Luck is the best way.

There are many factors, best are those with a combination of factors

• Condition
• vacant and or boarded up
• large lien relative to the value of the property,
• large lien relative to the assessment
• Owned for a long time 20+ years
• owned by a forfeited company
• Out of state owner
• Absentee owner
• No or very small mortgage on property
• Mortgage that is a bank that has gone out of business or acquired by another bank.
• Estate owned

As you can see some of the same things you would look for in any lead, tax sale or not. After a while you get a feel for it. A vacant house with bank notices on it, is likely to be redeemed by the bank. It is already on their radar and may already own it. 

A vacant house that is run down and look abandoned is a good possibility to get.