All Forum Posts by: Will Sifert

Quote from @Christine Garnier:

Quote from @Jocelyn Bernstein:

I am in the process of foreclosing on a property in Bessemer. The only thing I have had a problem with is that the owner has until the 25th of May to pay back taxes, but the official deed won’t be available until sometime in August. Why would it take 3 months for a deed to become available? 

 If I am not mistaken, the reason why it would take so long to get the deed after a tax lien foreclosure in Alabama is because, the court will also quiet the title for you. This is truly specific to Alabama because other states like Arizona for example require that a separate quiet title action is filed after the foreclosure action. 

In Louisiana you get a judgement that quiets title against everyone you named in the suit. Mortgage companies, heirs, Bob's construction company that put a workman's lien on the property, Credit card company, etc etc... exception being local municipality liens ( grass cutting, demo etc.) Those don't come off.
So your ownership of the property is simultaneous with the property being free and clear.

Now LA is deciding to change their tax sale laws in 2026 so this wont matter from that point forward here.

Quote from @Denise Evans:

There has been some confusion on this point, and emails to me with questions.

If you have an Alabama tax lien you purchased through Govease.com (or you bought it from somebody who bought it through GovEase.com) you are NOT entitled possession. This is what we call "the new system."  You cannot cut locks, you cannot take possession, you cannot set foot on the property, you cannot make any improvements. There are some VERY specialized strategies that can get around the problem, but they require buying out the former owner or one of the heirs.  A few counties have in-person tax lien auctions, not through GovEase.com, but it is the same rules.

Alabama tax lien investors can only accumulate the correct number of tax liens for the correct number of years and then file a lien foreclosure lawsuit. If nobody redeems during that lawsuit, and nobody with redemption rights demands a public auction, then the judge will foreclose your liens, quiet title in you, order the clerk of the court to issue a deed to you, and you will own the property, free and clear of any liens or claims. At that point, and not one minute before, you can do anything you want. Well, technically, you have to wait until the order is final and non-appealable, 42 days after the judge's order.

The "older system" (still used by some counties) is the one that allows possession. Please make sure you know what you own, and what your rights are. If you have a tax lien and take possession, you can be arrested and you can be sued for actual and punitive damages for trespass.

 Thanks for clarifying, it is amazing how many people spend money bidding but don't understand the simple basics. 

I never did research much about the new system in AL, after the redemption period expires and you file a lawsuit to foreclose? During that time anyone with an ownership interest can demand that the property sold in auction to the highest bidder?  I assume the proceeds of the sale would go to pay back the tax certificate holder for back taxes, interest and court costs and then the overage would be split up by the heirs ? If no one redeems or demands a sale, then you will be issued a deed with quiet title ?  If so, I wonder if allowing a party with an ownership interest to demand a sale before the property is "lost" to someone else, if that would be enough to satisfy all the concerns states are having about the SC tyler vs hennepin county decision. 

Quote from @Denise Evans:

If you in fact purchased a tax lien under the new system (people bid down the interest rate) then you are not allowed to set foot on the property and you certainly cannot cut the timber until after a judge forecloses your liens, quiets title, and orders the clerk to issue a deed to you. That is, at a minimum, 4 years in the future.  You must file the lawsuit and then you must obtain the order.

If you purchased a tax certificate under the old system (people bid up the purchase price) you are not allowed to cut the timber while you have only a tax certificate, which is the time period up to three years after the auction. There is no appellate or statutory authority that allows to you cut the timber after the tax deed date, but while judicial redemption rights might still be outstanding. I personally think you can, and if the former owner redeems, they get cutover timber land. But, a court could rule differently. 

Denise, Its been a couple years since I was paying attention to what was happening in AL.  Are some counties still on the old way and some on the new or have they all switched over? If I remember the "new" system it was much like how LA does it (Sell tax lien, 3 year redemption period, once redemption period expires file suit to quiet title and get a judgement.)  I just found out that LA will be changing its system to something similar to what Florida does. We will still have liens but if the property doesn't redeem it is then sold off to the highest bidder. Colorado changed from selling liens and issuing deeds to selling liens and then auctioning off deeds as well. I wonder if AL will be changing again in the future. It seems tyler vs hennepin county is making some waves.

Quote from @Patrick Roberts:

This is interesting. I already didnt like the Louisiana process with 3 years for redemption. I wouldnt touch this at all - what's the point?

I don't get it either, there is no upside. I can only imagine they consulted with the big hedge fund companies and made sure there was enough left on the table for them to stay interested, they can buy all the liens and make next to no interest if they want to. I can't see any local investors continuing on with the new laws. 

I have tried out other states... (CO, WY, AZ) and researched many. So far I like SC the best. Do you buy in SC ?

1. I like that it is all in person. It is incredibly hard to make money bidding online. Not just that there is too much competition. But there are too many stupid bidders, for a lack of a better term. Bidding online makes it too easy for people with no clue to bid everything up too high or down too low (depending on your state). They end up losing their money but are replaced by a new crop the following year.  In person cuts a lot of that out.

2. I like that the deed is issued to you. You don't have to do a judicial foreclosure or send in an application they just send it to you.

3. One year redemption period is nice.

4. Being that owners can apply for the overage, that is the most "compliant" process and I don't see them changing their laws any time soon.

I just would need to figure out a good county to give it a try and show up to a sale later this year. If you bid there and don't mind sharing what do you think are some of the pros and cons ? Thanks 

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

I used to think that most investors purchasing mortgage notes were clueless as to the mechanics of how it worked.  I now see that lack of knowledge is nothing compared to the cluelessness of investors who purchase tax liens……

1. About 50% of investors buying a tax certificate think they’re buying the real property
2. About 75% have no idea about redemption period
3. About 85% have no idea about waiting time for filing deed
4. About 90% think tax liens work the same everywhere 

Has anyone heard “investigate, THEN invest? 

when i first thought of doing this was in Hinds county MS.. I had a very successful HML company there funding mid 2000 turnkey guys/gals. I thought since i was there I would go buy some tax certs what can be so tough about those.. I took 30k to the sale and got schooled big time.. the big players are there with their lap tops the sale goes at lightning speed those guys snag most everything I end up spending my 30k.. And not one redeemed I lost interest trying to follow them and just chalked it up... I grew up in Tax SALE in CA with my dad so I thought what could be so tough about this.. Tax SALE and tax certs big diff. Now you get all these gurus trying to sell the sizzle like folks are going to end up with pretty homes for 5k each total BS. TAX CERTS are a bizzness not something you do as a passive investor or someone like me who is busy with their core business.. thankfully it was only 30k

Jay, you were doing it for the redemptions, to make interest. Now, I don't know if the property you could have eventually tried to take ownership of, it there was value there but I come across this a LOT in my tax sale buying in Louisiana and I think WTF is this guy doing!!! lol

Perfect example, guy goes to tax sale for a couple years in a row buys a bunch of stuff, 4-5 years later everything that didn't redeem he just stops paying on it and lets it go back to tax sale. I see there is value there I buy it. After 3 years he loses his right to redeem from me and the original owner is WAY out of the picture. I quite title on all of them. I get the property. I have about 5K invested into it, I sell it for 40K. In the process of him being served he calls me and we talk, I ask why he let it go, he said it never redeemed and he got tired of cutting the grass!!! All he had to do was hire an attorney to file suit pay another 4-5K then sold it for 40K. But "it didn't redeem and he got tired of paying the tax bill and cutting the grass so he let it go".  I didn't owe him anything legally but gave him $500 for a quit claim to make my suit a little easier and cleaner. He was happy and oblivious.

 Well I thought i could end up owning it did not even look what I bid on.. And frankly just lost interest in even following it.. was not enough money to me to try to figure it out or waste time on it..  Guys like you that speicalize in it I get it.. U know the ropes and are organized and methodical at the time I was making 20 loans or more a month to flippers in Jackson and simply could not be bothered to follow this stuff LOL..  I grew up with my Dad in N. Ca buying TAX SALE and we bought HUNDREDS of parcels usually about 75 to 125 a year.. but thats buy it and get a deed.. And we had enough juice that our title company would issue insurance right after we got the tax collector deed and recorded it.. But that was then now is now.. its all on bid 4 assets and the deals are nowhere as good as they use to be not even close.

 
I always down played how well I did to not encourage others in my area,
but since LA is changing their system in 2026 it doesn't matter now and
my tax sale buying, in LA any way, will be coming to a conclusion soon.
I started off in 2009 spending 3K on 5 liens and I got burned on two of
them and lost most of my money. I dug in and it took time, I
consulted multiple attorneys very experienced in this field, read the
statutes many times, learned some things the hard way unfortunately, but
after about 5 years in I got my first property and quit claimed it to
the neighbor for 20K, next year similar situation, 18K to another
neighbor. Then the following year I got a nice house that needed a new
roof, siding and some interior repairs from the water that leaked in.
Owners were divorced, husband was living there and not paying his SBA
mortgage. He was upside down, house become unlivable and he moved out.
Quieted title against everyone including SBA, I got the house free and
clear. Put 40K into repairs and was about 50K out of pocket on
everything (taxes, court costs etc.) I rented it out for 3 years pretty
much got back that 50K then sold it for 200K. I took that and poured
fuel on the fire, went from spending 10K-20K a year to 100K a year on
tax liens and started attending more local tax sales, couple years later
I was selling multiple properties a year.

For the last couple years I have been spending about 200K a year buying
tax liens. Over the years I have quieted title and took ownership of 26
properties, 15 of which I have sold for over 800K and still own about 500K worth
that is listed or I will be selling in the near future.
I have a couple hundred thousand of properties in the process
of being quieted and who knows how many I will get over the next couple years from liens I already purchased that wont redeem. I have about 300K in outstanding tax liens, most of which that will redeem.  I am sure there are people and companies that spend more in a year that what I have done in 15+ years but it's not bad for a guy who started off with 3K and just kept rolling it all back in.  So sad to see it all come to an end. I need to find another start or will be diverting into rentals.

absolutely very nice results .. some cash  hard work meets opportunity .. plus being smarter than the next guy.. Me I just could not be bothered at the time.. And always thought one day i would get some checks in the mail but nope not a one redeemed.

You had your attention on something else rightfully so, since you were doing really well with other things. I share all of that for the people who think they need to spend money on classes or gurus or mentors etc...  just put in the work and you will learn more from the attorneys (in judicial foreclosure states) then anyone else x 100. The attorney wants you to do well, you will be his client if you do well. Just pay him for his time and he will teach you everything about the law that he knows and that is most of the battle. No other investor will share much, they don't want competition.  The rest about dd and bidding etc you pick up along the way and getting better over time.... experience comes

Yup in my courthouse steps foreclosure buying days you would have maybe 3 to 5 real bidders and 30 looky loo's.. they watch you buy some property then come up to you and ask how we do it.  I just look at them and say politely " I have spent 20 years learning this and your going to have to do what I did".. and walk off.. no way I was going to train my competition.. BP is one of the only places I see folks basically training their competition freely and willingly.

 I had no problem helping people with the basics and answering specific questions on here. 99.9% are not in my backyard anyways. But in person. You not going to get more out of me than what they got out of you lol ;)   

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

I used to think that most investors purchasing mortgage notes were clueless as to the mechanics of how it worked.  I now see that lack of knowledge is nothing compared to the cluelessness of investors who purchase tax liens……

1. About 50% of investors buying a tax certificate think they’re buying the real property
2. About 75% have no idea about redemption period
3. About 85% have no idea about waiting time for filing deed
4. About 90% think tax liens work the same everywhere 

Has anyone heard “investigate, THEN invest? 

when i first thought of doing this was in Hinds county MS.. I had a very successful HML company there funding mid 2000 turnkey guys/gals. I thought since i was there I would go buy some tax certs what can be so tough about those.. I took 30k to the sale and got schooled big time.. the big players are there with their lap tops the sale goes at lightning speed those guys snag most everything I end up spending my 30k.. And not one redeemed I lost interest trying to follow them and just chalked it up... I grew up in Tax SALE in CA with my dad so I thought what could be so tough about this.. Tax SALE and tax certs big diff. Now you get all these gurus trying to sell the sizzle like folks are going to end up with pretty homes for 5k each total BS. TAX CERTS are a bizzness not something you do as a passive investor or someone like me who is busy with their core business.. thankfully it was only 30k

Jay, you were doing it for the redemptions, to make interest. Now, I don't know if the property you could have eventually tried to take ownership of, it there was value there but I come across this a LOT in my tax sale buying in Louisiana and I think WTF is this guy doing!!! lol

Perfect example, guy goes to tax sale for a couple years in a row buys a bunch of stuff, 4-5 years later everything that didn't redeem he just stops paying on it and lets it go back to tax sale. I see there is value there I buy it. After 3 years he loses his right to redeem from me and the original owner is WAY out of the picture. I quite title on all of them. I get the property. I have about 5K invested into it, I sell it for 40K. In the process of him being served he calls me and we talk, I ask why he let it go, he said it never redeemed and he got tired of cutting the grass!!! All he had to do was hire an attorney to file suit pay another 4-5K then sold it for 40K. But "it didn't redeem and he got tired of paying the tax bill and cutting the grass so he let it go".  I didn't owe him anything legally but gave him $500 for a quit claim to make my suit a little easier and cleaner. He was happy and oblivious.

 Well I thought i could end up owning it did not even look what I bid on.. And frankly just lost interest in even following it.. was not enough money to me to try to figure it out or waste time on it..  Guys like you that speicalize in it I get it.. U know the ropes and are organized and methodical at the time I was making 20 loans or more a month to flippers in Jackson and simply could not be bothered to follow this stuff LOL..  I grew up with my Dad in N. Ca buying TAX SALE and we bought HUNDREDS of parcels usually about 75 to 125 a year.. but thats buy it and get a deed.. And we had enough juice that our title company would issue insurance right after we got the tax collector deed and recorded it.. But that was then now is now.. its all on bid 4 assets and the deals are nowhere as good as they use to be not even close.

 
I always down played how well I did to not encourage others in my area,
but since LA is changing their system in 2026 it doesn't matter now and
my tax sale buying, in LA any way, will be coming to a conclusion soon.
I started off in 2009 spending 3K on 5 liens and I got burned on two of
them and lost most of my money. I dug in and it took time, I
consulted multiple attorneys very experienced in this field, read the
statutes many times, learned some things the hard way unfortunately, but
after about 5 years in I got my first property and quit claimed it to
the neighbor for 20K, next year similar situation, 18K to another
neighbor. Then the following year I got a nice house that needed a new
roof, siding and some interior repairs from the water that leaked in.
Owners were divorced, husband was living there and not paying his SBA
mortgage. He was upside down, house become unlivable and he moved out.
Quieted title against everyone including SBA, I got the house free and
clear. Put 40K into repairs and was about 50K out of pocket on
everything (taxes, court costs etc.) I rented it out for 3 years pretty
much got back that 50K then sold it for 200K. I took that and poured
fuel on the fire, went from spending 10K-20K a year to 100K a year on
tax liens and started attending more local tax sales, couple years later
I was selling multiple properties a year.

For the last couple years I have been spending about 200K a year buying
tax liens. Over the years I have quieted title and took ownership of 26
properties, 15 of which I have sold for over 800K and still own about 500K worth
that is listed or I will be selling in the near future.
I have a couple hundred thousand of properties in the process
of being quieted and who knows how many I will get over the next couple years from liens I already purchased that wont redeem. I have about 300K in outstanding tax liens, most of which that will redeem.  I am sure there are people and companies that spend more in a year that what I have done in 15+ years but it's not bad for a guy who started off with 3K and just kept rolling it all back in.  So sad to see it all come to an end. I need to find another start or will be diverting into rentals.

absolutely very nice results .. some cash  hard work meets opportunity .. plus being smarter than the next guy.. Me I just could not be bothered at the time.. And always thought one day i would get some checks in the mail but nope not a one redeemed.

You had your attention on something else rightfully so, since you were doing really well with other things. I share all of that for the people who think they need to spend money on classes or gurus or mentors etc...  just put in the work and you will learn more from the attorneys (in judicial foreclosure states) then anyone else x 100. The attorney wants you to do well, you will be his client if you do well. Just pay him for his time and he will teach you everything about the law that he knows and that is most of the battle. No other investor will share much, they don't want competition.  The rest about dd and bidding etc you pick up along the way and getting better over time.... experience comes

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

I used to think that most investors purchasing mortgage notes were clueless as to the mechanics of how it worked.  I now see that lack of knowledge is nothing compared to the cluelessness of investors who purchase tax liens……

1. About 50% of investors buying a tax certificate think they’re buying the real property
2. About 75% have no idea about redemption period
3. About 85% have no idea about waiting time for filing deed
4. About 90% think tax liens work the same everywhere 

Has anyone heard “investigate, THEN invest? 

when i first thought of doing this was in Hinds county MS.. I had a very successful HML company there funding mid 2000 turnkey guys/gals. I thought since i was there I would go buy some tax certs what can be so tough about those.. I took 30k to the sale and got schooled big time.. the big players are there with their lap tops the sale goes at lightning speed those guys snag most everything I end up spending my 30k.. And not one redeemed I lost interest trying to follow them and just chalked it up... I grew up in Tax SALE in CA with my dad so I thought what could be so tough about this.. Tax SALE and tax certs big diff. Now you get all these gurus trying to sell the sizzle like folks are going to end up with pretty homes for 5k each total BS. TAX CERTS are a bizzness not something you do as a passive investor or someone like me who is busy with their core business.. thankfully it was only 30k

Jay, you were doing it for the redemptions, to make interest. Now, I don't know if the property you could have eventually tried to take ownership of, it there was value there but I come across this a LOT in my tax sale buying in Louisiana and I think WTF is this guy doing!!! lol

Perfect example, guy goes to tax sale for a couple years in a row buys a bunch of stuff, 4-5 years later everything that didn't redeem he just stops paying on it and lets it go back to tax sale. I see there is value there I buy it. After 3 years he loses his right to redeem from me and the original owner is WAY out of the picture. I quite title on all of them. I get the property. I have about 5K invested into it, I sell it for 40K. In the process of him being served he calls me and we talk, I ask why he let it go, he said it never redeemed and he got tired of cutting the grass!!! All he had to do was hire an attorney to file suit pay another 4-5K then sold it for 40K. But "it didn't redeem and he got tired of paying the tax bill and cutting the grass so he let it go".  I didn't owe him anything legally but gave him $500 for a quit claim to make my suit a little easier and cleaner. He was happy and oblivious.

 Well I thought i could end up owning it did not even look what I bid on.. And frankly just lost interest in even following it.. was not enough money to me to try to figure it out or waste time on it..  Guys like you that speicalize in it I get it.. U know the ropes and are organized and methodical at the time I was making 20 loans or more a month to flippers in Jackson and simply could not be bothered to follow this stuff LOL..  I grew up with my Dad in N. Ca buying TAX SALE and we bought HUNDREDS of parcels usually about 75 to 125 a year.. but thats buy it and get a deed.. And we had enough juice that our title company would issue insurance right after we got the tax collector deed and recorded it.. But that was then now is now.. its all on bid 4 assets and the deals are nowhere as good as they use to be not even close.

 
I always down played how well I did to not encourage others in my area,
but since LA is changing their system in 2026 it doesn't matter now and
my tax sale buying, in LA any way, will be coming to a conclusion soon.
I started off in 2009 spending 3K on 5 liens and I got burned on two of
them and lost most of my money. I dug in and it took time, I
consulted multiple attorneys very experienced in this field, read the
statutes many times, learned some things the hard way unfortunately, but
after about 5 years in I got my first property and quit claimed it to
the neighbor for 20K, next year similar situation, 18K to another
neighbor. Then the following year I got a nice house that needed a new
roof, siding and some interior repairs from the water that leaked in.
Owners were divorced, husband was living there and not paying his SBA
mortgage. He was upside down, house become unlivable and he moved out.
Quieted title against everyone including SBA, I got the house free and
clear. Put 40K into repairs and was about 50K out of pocket on
everything (taxes, court costs etc.) I rented it out for 3 years pretty
much got back that 50K then sold it for 200K. I took that and poured
fuel on the fire, went from spending 10K-20K a year to 100K a year on
tax liens and started attending more local tax sales, couple years later
I was selling multiple properties a year.

For the last couple years I have been spending about 200K a year buying  tax liens. Over the years I have quieted title and took ownership of 26  properties, 15 of which I have sold for over 800K and still own about 500K worth that is listed or I will be selling in the near future.  I have made over 150K from quit claims back to original owners. I always worked out deals when there was someone who wanted it back. I have a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of properties in the process  of being quieted and who knows how many I will get over the next couple years from liens I already purchased that wont redeem. I have about 300K in outstanding tax liens, most of which that will redeem.  I am sure there are people and companies that spend more in a year that what I have done in 15+ years but it's not bad for a guy who started off with 3K and just kept rolling it all back in.  So sad to see it all come to an end. I need to find another state or will be diverting into rentals.

I didn't have a mentor, didn't read books, didn't attend a seminar or classes, didn't even post much about it or asked questions online the first 10+ years. Didn't borrow money from people. I paid experienced attorneys for consultations and asked them a lot of "what if" questions. I read a lot, learned a lot and tried not to make the same mistake twice.

Quote from @Kristine Ann:

It seems to me like most of the bidders have no idea what they are even bidding on, even with tax deed sales. It's usually not worth it to bid because the clueless people are driving the prices up. 

Here's one for you.  Tax deed auction last week there's a house in an economically depressed area in northern New York State (Clinton County).  The pictures look pretty but I know the house and the area and it's in very bad shape and a very bad location.  

It's accurately assessed for 45k next to the train tracks and has a 16 foot wide easement right through the property.  The roof is collapsed and has been for at least 2-3 years which means there's damage throughout the house. It auctioned off to some online bidder for 30k! Maybe it would've been worth it at 5k, but 30K is crazy.  What are people even thinking?  The only explanation is that it's out-of-towners thinking Clinton County is in New York, so the land must be worth it?  It's not.  

Something like that I would have worried it was too far gone and I would have to pay another 20K in demo cost just to end up with a lot that was worth 5K.  I wouldn't have taken a property like that for free. Too much risk.

Quote from @Jay Hinrichs:

Quote from @Will Sifert:

Quote from @Don Konipol:

I used to think that most investors purchasing mortgage notes were clueless as to the mechanics of how it worked.  I now see that lack of knowledge is nothing compared to the cluelessness of investors who purchase tax liens……

PREACH!!!  your statement is 100% true. And it's those clueless that come and go every year but each year there is always just enough of them to bid everything too high or low depending on the state to make it a good deal for the rest of us. Each year there is new clueless to ruin it for the rest of us on an ongoing basis.

this happens in courthouse steps foreclosures as well..  

People bidding up way too high thinking that the inside of the house "might not be that bad" to find foundation issues, concrete in pipes, rot, termite damage and a previous fire all occurred there? Then them thinking "how unlucky" they were lol. 

Quote from @Chris Seveney:

@Will Sifert

I had someone reach out to me later about a tax lien they bought and wanted to know what to do, it was a strip of land that was essentially a useless parcel as it’s non buildable.. I asked what they paid for it and they said $4,000 - I asked what DD did you do and they said the county tax value was $6,000 so I was getting a deal… I asked him if he was a Gardener as maybe grow some veggies on it but other than that it’s useless and no one will buy it

bless his heart.