Philadelphia Tax Sale

[Mike S.]

Hello BP,

I'm fairly new to BP (first post!), and I was hoping someone could talk me out of a bad idea.  There's a rowhome down the street from me.  It's been empty for the last two years at least and has a notice of unsafe structure from L&I, I think because the masonry is pretty dicey.  It's always struck me as a shame - it would need to be taken down to the studs, of course, but it's a corner rowhome in a solid, up-and-coming neighborhood.  As it stands now, though, it's an eyesore on my otherwise lovely little block.

A little digging reveals that it's coming up for auction at a tax sale.  A peek at the Philadelphia Property Atlas reveals no deed transfers since the 80s, no mortgages or other encumbrances, etc.  (Of course, were I to go to the auction, I would pay a title company to first do a search in order to minimize the chances of an unfortunate surprise down the road.)  Theoretically, it could be a fix-and-flip, turned into a duplex and rented (many corner properties in my neighborhood are duplexes), or I could even just trade up from my current place and live in it after it's rehabbed.  But I know I've seen respected contributors around here caution people about tax sales - @David Krulac and @Steve Babiak among them - and in any event, the place looks to be in pretty rough shape (though I know it was occupied as of a couple years ago, so it hasn't sat empty for 10+ years).  So, on the off chance the title report came back ok and it was available for a song at auction - yes, this is very hypothetical - is any of these the proper response:

Mike, you're crazy.  Tax sales are full of traps even for experienced RE investors - and you, my friend, are definitely NOT an experienced RE investor.

Mike, you're crazy.  That rowhome may collapse for all you know, or need to be bulldozed, and there's no way you can really know before you buy.

Mike, you're crazy.  [Fill in your own response.]

Or is there a chance this might make sense?

Thanks,

Mike