Hey @Michelle Robbins, welcome to the wild world of tax deed auctions! I've participated in 9 tax-deed auctions in Northern CA, so I know some stuff but not everything. I'm actually not familiar with quiet title; I'm under the impression that it involves going to court and spending a fair amount of money? So I try to avoid that. :-)
What I have found is that the old rule of thumb--which said that if you bought a property at a tax deed auction and held it for a year, the title was automatically clear--is no longer true. I bought a couple of lots in a tax-deed auction, and when I went to sell them a year and a half later, I found that all the title companies I called have new policies that require a person to hold the property for 3-5 years or more before the title was regarded as clear. The alternatives are to pay $2K+ to Tax Title Services or to do a quiet title. I paid Tax Title Services (it's just a cost of doing business now), and it went pretty smoothly.
But the policies seem to be in flux. The title company I used to sell the first lot told me that now it's case by case, so I may or may not need to go through Tax Title Services for my next sale. Hard to get clarity on this issue these days!
I understand that it's also possible to sell directly to a buyer who doesn't mind that the property might have unclear title; you just have to disclose all.
Please keep us informed about how it goes for you!
Carol
