What to do with a Tax Delinquent List?

Question

So I just got a hold of my first Tax Delinquent list from the county's tax accessor office. I heard that was a hard list to get, but it was very simple for me. It was just costly. The list came on a CD with 1,535,258 lines worth of what looks like code.

Here is an example of a line:

SCNDELQ 0030005225000S000000000 800630 00000000+000000000N 000000 000000 $887.3302+0000000.00

I understand that somewhere in there is the Parcel number and I believe that is the way to find information on the property owner. I went to the county's property information management page and tried to enter what I thought was the parcel number (13 numbers) and it tells me the parcel doesn't exist on the database.

So my first question is what to do first now that I have a hold of a list?

My second question is how do I filter that list down to a manageable number?

And lastly, where do I go to find the addresses to each of these delinquent properties that I have?

Any other information on what to do and how to decipher this list would be very helpful. Thanks in advance!

Derrick

Jordan H. · Answer

In the future, before spending money on data, I would recommend asking the county for some sample data so you know what you are getting yourself into. This way you know if you might need to spend additional money on other steps required to get your list market ready.

@Derrick Redd that line wouldn't happen to be from the County of San Bernardino, would it? ;) There are no addresses in the San Bernadino tax roll. This is available in a separate, friendlier, delimited txt file @ http://www.sbcounty.gov/arc/ma...

Interesting to note here that San Bernadino is the only county I've seen so far in CA to keep ownership information publicly available.

Ugly is an understatement when describing the process of parsing the tax data delivered by the counties in the great state of California.

Reply to the county and ask them to send you the layout of the file. They should have sent it to you when they delivered you the data.

Barry Pekin · Answer

@Derrick Redd,

Does the first line of the report have any headers? Can you ask them how to identify the properties from that?

I think they get so many requests that they have fun making it more difficult.

I would guess, as it appears you did, that "0030005225000" is the parcel ID, but I would verify it with someone at the county.

One of the things I've noticed is that anyone who's late on a single payment will show up in that list, and I don't find that very valuable. It's the people who are more like 2 years delinquent that really need help.

I'm a bit of a data expert, and I can only guess at a couple of things. Second delinquency? Owes $887.33?

I would talk to someone at the county to see if they can help you make sense of it. Some people will turn you away. You need to persist and to ask different people. I would also start asking local investors if they've purchased that list before and how they made it work.

Ellis San Jose · Answer

You have to parse the list into meaningful information. I suggest hiring a data expert .

Then prioritize the list based on what ideal situation you are searching for. Commercial, Land, 2-4 units, sfr?

What to do with a Tax Delinquent List?

What to do with a Tax Delinquent List?

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