anne arundel county tax sale

[Bret Schilling]

This will be my first time doing a tax sale auction. In my county's tax sale you send in an excel spreadsheet with your bid amount. Im assuming this means that you cannot see what others are bidding on homes and you could potentially grossly overpay/underpay for a property you are interested in. Is this correct or is there a way to see what the current high bid is on properties during the sale?

[Keith Thompson]

@Bret Schilling  There is no way to see current highest bid, or what others are bidding as the sale progresses.  You fill out the spreadsheet, put your highest bid as a real number or percentage of assessed value, submit it and wait. I don't think you can mix and match between those two methods, pick one and move forward.  I can't recall if there is a fund limit function, i.e. you only have X to spend, stop awarding certificates if you reach that number.

If you want to see how bidding goes, look for the results of the last year or two.  If the results are not listed on the website, give them a call.  I've found the Treasurer's office folks to be very helpful.

You picked a tough county for your first auction.  The high potential return (18%) brings out all the big guns. You might want to look for a lower return county that does in-person bidding to balance your experience and to have a higher potential for success.