Tax sale strategy in this brave new world...

[John Roorda]

So right now, I'm sitting on 4 Indiana tax liens to come out of the redemption period this fall, and the initial plan was to hit the April commissioner's sale and pick up a few more that would come out of redemption approximately the same time. All D-class SFH in Gary, that appear to be in reasonable condition. My objective was to try to quickly re-sell most if not all of these, to tackle some personal debt, and then build up reserves for the next sale where I can buy to hold, rehab, and rent.

Until now.

My question is, once I get the deeds in my hand, who's going to be left standing to sell these things to?  It used to be that one could list one of these for $15k and sell it in a reasonable amount of time, but now I'm wondering if I should expect to be left holding them?  Is it wise to buy more?

Part of me is thinking that the average buyer for one of these properties is getting most of his rental income from section 8, and may not be hurting quite as bad as other landlords.  Plus the fact that taxes on these houses are next to nothing, so boarding them up for a little while until the world returns to normal isn't the worst thing in the world.

Tax sale buyers - are you still buying? D-class SFH landlords - are you in a world of hurt?