All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Fay

I've been studying Florida tax liens (certificates) for 6 months now.  I've read and reread Statute 197 (the legal go to).  I'm ready to make bids on a particular counties' auction which has 2,700 properties up.  In comparing previous years certs, I've found that many of the winning bidders are large corporations.  In my studies I've learned that these large corporations create dozens upon hundreds of subsidiary companies to bid in a sort of umbrella fashion, doing so by flooding the auction site with bids to ensure success, and in turn bidding down the percentage rate (it doesn't matter that they are getting .25% return, because they bought 800 at a time type mentality).   

True, many will wait for the certs that go unsold and are struck to the county to avoid the bid war, but in this particular county, these properties are truly the bottom of the barrel.

So my question is this - It is actually possible for me, little old just me to have even the slightest chance of competing, and winning?  Is there a strategy to implement to increase my odds?  (ps, this is an online auction where upon you may bid on a property the moment the list comes out, which it did today)

Thanks!

Each county in Florida populate their public sites slightly differently.  I've found often times I need to cross reference information between various sites, ie, tax collector, property assessor and court records to truly determine the owner, how much was owed ect.  It can be time consuming, but with some counties it seems to be the only way to get to the bottom of things.  Keep what consistent information you can dig up like the parcel ID number, important or reoccurring dates at hand so when you click from one site to another you can make the connections. 

Every good REO property I've come across (I use mostly use county clerk, tax collector and property appraiser sites) are not yet listed on the MLS. I find it impossible to believe that I can not make an offer on these properties until they become "available". I read a great article recently,

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/07/13/shadow-reo-as-much-as-90-percent-of-foreclosed-properties-are-h/

about foreclosed properties sitting in limbo.  Is it actually true that a bank would rather sit on a toxic underwater note than get it out of their hair?  I'm pretty new to the scene, so forgive any ignorance.

I found a great article recently, 

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/07/13/shadow-reo-as-much-as-90-percent-of-foreclosed-properties-are-h/

insight no one (in the posts) has mentioned yet

why can't I find a property listed on a bank's reo page?  I think I have all the relevant information I've compiled from the county clerk, but can't seem to find the property anywhere.  the title was officially transferred two months ago.  is it just to early?