Missouri Tax Deed Questions

[Goran A.]

I've never been particularly interested in tax deed sales but I just so happened to stumble upon the St. Louis, MO website for that. I'm not attending but it did catch my eye and might be something that I look into later on. I'm still a newbie to all of this and am mostly studying up on various REI topics.

1) They have a listing of "First and Second Offerings" and "Third Offering". I understand that the third offering has only a 90 day wait period. But what else differentiates these two listings?
2) The top of the list states that "The Supreme Court of Missouri has determined that deeds of trust, mortgages and other security interests may not be
extinguished by tax sales held pursuant to Chapter 140, R.S.Mo., 2000, supp. 2009, but instead may remain in full
force and effect."
Can someone clarify this for me? I thought tax deed sales superseded everything besides federal stuff?
3) They also list the last few years and an amount with a total at the very end. Is the total value the amount the bidding starts at?
The website is at: http://revenue.stlouisco.com/Collection/TaxSales/.

4) Another county (Phelps) has a listing but I'm not even sure how to read it (http://www.phelpscounty.org/collector/taxsalenotice%20081910.pdf). The STL list has the address for each location but the Phelps county list writes each location as:
"FRC S ½ Lot 1 SW S19 T39N R6W, 9.08 ac"
What do all these letter/number combinations mean?
5) Phelps county's list also has the last few years followed by some values but the format is a little different than the STL listings. At what value would the bidding starts for these?
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Based on your experience how much higher does the average listing go up?

I mentioned these auctions to my dad who didn't even want to hear about it. To him, it's all a scam... I had always thought about getting into REI with my dads help but I doubt that will be possible with his attitude.

I'm interested in this as an alternative to Bank CD's but also for the potential to actually acquire a property. I already have a good amount of money saved up since I've worked consistently throughout high school and college. Right now I'm focused on finishing my last year of school and I might look at starting this next year before graduation. In the unlikely chance that I actually obtain a property, I will fix it up and rent it out to college students.

I've seen one book thrown around as a recommended starting guide. I think one had 16% in the title but are there any other books or resources you guys would recommend?