All Forum Posts by: James Mikel

Sure you can make money at tax deeds/liens but in Florida where the guy is touting his wares, you will not get 20% on a lien.  The statutory max is 18%.  Further, there is no way to sort through the thousands, well tens of thousands, of liens auctioned per county to differentiate those where someone has died.  

Best Bet to beat the tax deed auction crowd...  Go to the Tax Collector's website in most Florida Counties, find and download the Report File for All certificates in excel.  Sort the excel list by property id number.  Delete all those properties which do not have two outstanding tax certificates issued against them.  There are a number of reasons for this but it would take numerous paragraphs to explain it.    

Resort by current balance or face value.  Delete those having a value less than $300 as most of a lesser face value in Florida will be DRA's, unbuildable, easements or crap land.  Now delete those having a value above $10,000.  90% of properties having a cert against them which has a face value above $10,000 will be unobtainable for one of many reasons and will be a pipe dream.   

Resort by status or in some counties it's called legal status.  Delete all of those which have status=Yes or TD or BK or JF-basically anything except no or blank gets deleted.   

What you will then be looking at are those properties which have the greatest potential for being sold at a tax deed sale and have the greatest potential of purchase.  You will have eliminated approximately 85% of the worthless properties that shouldn't be pursued.  I have found that almost all of the larger counties in Florida have access to the downloadable Reports file for certificates.   

To: Find it go to the County Tax Collector's Site.  Go to Search, Search Report, Certificates All.  

NOW head over to the Property Appraiser's website and enter the property ID numbers and see which properties you want to mail a flyer too.  Yes it can be that easy.  

Jeff, that plan works.  Been doing it for a number of years.  Just got a check in the mail from a cert in Brevard, had it for 18 months at 18% annual.  ;) 

It's my middle of the road strategy for tax certificate investing    

Look at the most recent conveyance of the property.  If it is a warranty deed prepared by a title company and it does not specifically state "This is prepared without examination of Title"  there is little cause for concern over prior owner encumbrances.   But, you will still need to search the official records for encumbrances appearing after the time of warranty deed issuance.   

If the last conveyance is anything other than the professionally prepared warranty deed look at the conveyance prior and move backwards creating a chain of title until you reach a warranty deed prepared by a title company.  We always assume every conveyance made after the warranty deed is in need of more scrutiny.  

Once you have found your way to the most recent Warranty Deed fill in the blanks moving forward to present day searching on those names found in the conveyances as well as those named encumbrance holders.  This will disclose which were satisfied/released and which were not.  

NOW take that information to the host site for the tax deed auction or to the court house and compare it to the O&E report found in the tax deed file.  That O&E report will go back to the last Warranty Deed or 20 years.  

Your search and the O&E should match up with the exception of items appearing of record in the last few months.  If they don't you probably need more time in developing your research skills.   

One additional note, all of the rules of Florida relating to tax deed auctions are mandated by statute, so the same rules in your county will apply throughout the state.  

The very first and essential places to look for liens, encumbrances, mortgages are the county official records and the tax deed file.  With every tax deed auctioned there is a tax deed file.  You can either physically view the file at the court house or if auction is online view the file at the host site.  In that file you will find a "O&E Report" Owners and Encumbrance.  This will give you the nuts and bolts of who is being notified of the sale and their interest in the property.  But, you can not rely on this information alone.  It is only accurate through the date on which the "Tax Collector's Certification" is dated.  The Tax Collector's Certification is also in the file.  Sometimes the TC Certification will be dated months in advance of the auction.  For the most up to date intel you will need to rely on the Official Records.  A link to the Official Records can be found  on the Clerk of Circuit Courts website for the county in which the property lies; OR, on the Comptrollers website.  Best bet is to Google county name and official records search.  From the official records you can look up and view all documents relating to the property.  Deeds, mortgages, liens, etc. but as of 2013 judgments are no longer view-able online so you will need to go to the recording desk at the Clerk of Courts office and have those physically pulled,all you need is the book and page number referenced for that document.

The difference between a penalty and interest is that the former is mandated while the latter is accrued or earned.  

As example, in Florida, if a tax certificate is issued state law mandates that there be a 5% penalty paid to the holder of the certificate.  This holds true even if the owner or a third party redeems the certificate the day after issuance.  This is one reason banks love certificates as 85% are redeemed within a month. 

The interest. which is simple not compound, accrues over time based on your winning bid for that certificate.  So, if your winning bid were 12% and the owner takes 1 year to redeem it you receive a total of 12%.  If the owner redeems the first day you receive 5% as a result of the penalty.  When interest accrued exceeds the penalty, the penalty is relinquished.           

Sell one, keep one.

With both homes being on the same street guess what will happen to the value of both properties if 1 garbage collecting renter moves between your two wonderful properties. Have had this happen to us and it isn't nice when you have to lower your rent to keep the property occupied.

I would sell the larger property as you never want to own the larger homes in a subdivision. It is a great way to price out a lot of potential buyers down the road when you go to sell. I know you stated that the value of both are currently similar but the reality is that as the market gains momentum the difference may become more of a concern down the road. The smaller home will cost less to maintain while paying a few nickels less in taxes and insurance.

Congrats, nice job! We rehabbed 4 homes around 68th ST in Raytown last summer, what a nice area to flip in. I see that our flooring is a dead match for the one in your house, everyone loved it.

Here is a scenario that fits. If you obtain the certificate of title derived from that interest of a second mortgage holder the first mortgage will be superior. Therefore, you will be responsible for payment. Though, if there is overage from the sale they can claim it if they are first in priority. So, you after obtaining the cert of title can indeed go and negotiate with the first mort holder for the release of that mortgage but do not expect a huge reduction. Also make a query of the county official records to find any additional liens which may be superior i.e. county, state,fed. These liens will have a higher priority than that of the mort holder though there had been challenges made recently as to the first in time/first in priority common law being in confliction with current USC code.

Anyways, in Florida here is a 10 day period of objection after the auction occurs, but it is a formality for the mortgage holder to object to the sale, mostly. I have not seen a cert of title overturned by the owner during that window but have seen a case where the attorney representing the lender failed to show up at the auction to set the openinng bid and the property went for peanuts. That one was over turned.

All rights of redemption end upon closing of that 10 day window in regards to the interest at stake.

As for your first mort holder. It is unlikely that the auction will move forward if you approach with the capacity to pay it off or to negotiate the satisfaction thereof. Once the 1st is removed, the house is yours by virtue of the interest you hold in the property. With the satisfaction of the first, the interest derived by virtue of the certificate of title gives you right to possess and clear title to the property--if there are no other encumbrance holders.

In my opinion, yes the owner can sweep in and pay off the first most-let him. The first is satisfied your interest is superior to his, take possession.

This is only my mere opinion and added 2 cents for the day, I know nothing as I am not an attorney.

You can read a great deal more about this on my site.

FYI-See Title 28 for info info on release of IRS liens on auction property.

Good Information Is Contagious, PASS IT ON!!

Better late than never, seen this post today. I am an investor, one of the few in Florida, who has conducted numerous pro se quiet title actions. The best tip for new investors seeking to do their own is to google "florida quiet title".
To date my largest pro se quiet title case involved 14 properties and took nearly 2.5 hours to record due to the sheer number of pages and defendants.

Currently the site sitting in the number one spot for that key word has a ton of free information and tutorials including free tips on what to watch out for, insight into the process, how to conduct the due diligence, rules of superior and inferior liens, etc, etc. I would provide the link here but I don't know if it is allowed.