Skip to content
×
Try PRO Free Today!
BiggerPockets Pro offers you a comprehensive suite of tools and resources
Market and Deal Finder Tools
Deal Analysis Calculators
Property Management Software
Exclusive discounts to Home Depot, RentRedi, and more
$0
7 days free
$828/yr or $69/mo when billed monthly.
$390/yr or $32.5/mo when billed annually.
7 days free. Cancel anytime.
Already a Pro Member? Sign in here

Join Over 3 Million Real Estate Investors

Create a free BiggerPockets account to comment, participate, and connect with over 3 million real estate investors.
Use your real name
By signing up, you indicate that you agree to the BiggerPockets Terms & Conditions.
The community here is like my own little personal real estate army that I can depend upon to help me through ANY problems I come across.
Tax Liens & Mortgage Notes
All Forum Categories
Followed Discussions
Followed Categories
Followed People
Followed Locations
Market News & Data
General Info
Real Estate Strategies
Landlording & Rental Properties
Real Estate Professionals
Financial, Tax, & Legal
Real Estate Classifieds
Reviews & Feedback

Updated over 4 years ago on . Most recent reply

User Stats

10
Posts
2
Votes
Martin Brady
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Manhattan, NY
2
Votes |
10
Posts

NJ Tax liens - Buying

Martin Brady
  • Rental Property Investor
  • Manhattan, NY
Posted

Could I pick anyone’s brains on here that is experienced in purchasing tax liens in New Jersey?

- Where do I start?

Thank you,

Martin

Most Popular Reply

User Stats

63
Posts
40
Votes
James Lloyd
  • Attorney
  • Chatham, NJ
40
Votes |
63
Posts
James Lloyd
  • Attorney
  • Chatham, NJ
Replied

From my complete novice perspective (I thought I was interested in it and went to a few, and I didn't bid on anything... just observed):

1) There are some decent databases for NJ tax liens... they list when each municipality has their auction and which properties have a lien for sale.  The properties actually at auction will be less because people pay off their taxes last minute.  I used taxsaleresources because it offered a month to month subscription option that was pretty cheap at the time.

http://www.njtaxlieninvestor.com/taxlien101.asp

http://www.taxsaleresources.com/

2) At least in Morris County and Union County (where I went/looked at), there are definitely "professionals" that are bidding on the liens.  They had their numbers down cold with spreadsheets or computers in front of them.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were bidding on behalf of big money investors (hedge funds, brokerage houses, etc.).  

3) You better have some serious money in the bank.  Not only do you have to have the money to pay the tax bill the day of, but more often then not, you will have to pay a premium for the lien too (as opposed to you getting an interest rate), which you also have to pay the day of.

4) Making this number up, but from what I saw, 90% of the properties will get bid up to a premium (or 0% interest) and the 10% that get an interest rate, probably 5% of those properties are duds (properties you would never want to own if you actually foreclosed on it).  The game is to hope that the taxpayer does not pay off the next quarter tax bill, and you get priority to pay it off and receive 18% interest on the next one... but again, you have to have the money in the bank to pay off each property tax bill thereafter or lose priority.

My advice is that if you are interested in tax liens is to visit a couple of tax lien sales (if you don't want to pay for a database access, then you can always go to each municipalities webpage and see if they list the info there), and see how they operate.  Maybe you'll get excited and decide to keep with it.  After going a few times, I decided it wasn't for me.  

If you're looking for reading material, Michael Pelligrino, Esq. wrote a book on NJ Tax sales.  Its a bit dated, but not much has changed since it was published.  I've seen Michael speak and he definitely knows his stuff on the topic.

Loading replies...