Anyone familiar wih tax deed sales in Texas?

[Mike Denver]

Hi all! I was very thrilled to find this site and I imagine I'll be hanging around here quite a bit... so I'm wondering if anyone has experience investing in tax deeds in Texas. I'm considering making the trip out there from California and I want to know if it's worth it. On paper, it looks great: you get back either what you bid plus a 25% penalty, or the property itself.

However, my experience with tax deed sales so far has been less than encouraging. At a recent sale I went to in Las Vegas, the entire auction had been hijacked by some foreclosure website whose members were bidding the properties up almost to market value. My concern about Texas is that people may be bidding the properties up to insane levels where the homeowner could never redeem in the hopes of acquiring the property. My goal is either getting a good interest rate, or acquiring the property at a large discount. Is this still possible in Texas? I'd probably be going to El Paso, or possibly a smaller county nearby.

Has anyone actually been to a Texas tax deed sale? How did it go? Any feedback would be much appreciated!