@kristen
Hey y'all. A few quick points on this subject.
First, I had a similar story as Kristen. I went to their seminar in my area. As a bonus they offered a package on tax liens which interested me more than the training on flipping. They sold a "guaranty" for around $1,600 that if you bought 10 liens, you will foreclose on at least of them within 6 months. If not you will be able to buy a deed from their vault. I bought that guaranty and that got me into the tax lien business and I happen to be grateful of them opening my eyes to the unique opportunity within this industry. As far as the guaranty I think it's a scam because the foreclosure process takes more than 6 months.
I would absolutely not buy any liens on vacant land, certainly not in your local area.
To explain the "discount" they are saying. Based on what you're repeating what they said, they buy seasoned liens on the secondary market. The redemption value at the time of sale (or assignment) includes priciest plus interest. Let me give you an example. (I buy liens in NJ so I will use the 18% interest)
ABC Fund Inc. bought a tax lien for 2012 taxes on a SFH. Certificate amount at the auction was $10,000. Lets assume there was no bidding on this, 12 months later the redemption value on this will be approx $11,800. This includes the original cert amount plus 18% interest for the year. (let's ignore the penalties and legal fees for now). When Tax Lien Vault buys a seasoned lien from ABC Fund, they might get it at a discount because ABC will be ok to discount from then interest. Now when Tax Vault sells this lien to Kristen for full face value they make the difference. The problem with this (even on SFHs) is 1- you will not be earning interests on the interest amount. That could effect the return by a few % points depending on how much of them price is principal and how much is interest. And 2- Douglas & Tom wrote you have to to pay all the subs (plus interest) in order to get final judgement.
