All Forum Posts by: Ted Thomas

Hi Joel,

The county in which you are purchasing will have details for the tax lien certificates and the foreclosure process. Before you buy review the process.

Liens that are attached to the property are listed on the county records, either online or physically going there you can research those records.

If your county issues a deed it will be a quit claim deed which means the county takes no responsibility for the condition of the property or for defects in the title. I am not an attorney so you should ask one to review your question thoroughly before you spend money.

Respectfully,

Ted Thomas 

Hi Emma, 

If you are looking for an auction list, all 3,000+ counties create auction lists for tax lien certificates and tax-defaulted property.

Never heard of a 5% certificate…?

For future tax sales, all properties are announced online and in the newspaper. However, all the information on the parcel is in the county records. You could also get some information from the GIS Mapping System.

Respectfully,

Ted Thomas

If you are talking about tax lien certificates, taxes are a lien on the property immediately, however, they are not due until a very specific date. So a property tax lien is always on the property.

Respectfully,

Ted Thomas 

I have no idea of your financial situation, $300,000 should be antiquate to buy tax lien certificates. Noticing I said certificates (plural) to spread the risk. However, if you have other assets and you understand the business $300,000 could buy a number of valuable homes where an investor could make 50% or even 100% return over the period of 18 months. The question is quite broad, I don’t know your other financial commitments.

Respectfully,

Ted Thomas 

Interesting question. Contact a title company, explain that you are buying the property, ask them to prepare a contract, yes you will pay for that. In order to make sure the title is clear of liens pay the full amount of the lien plus the interest plus the purchase price and have the title company hold the money. The title company In turn will pay the tax lien, after they have received the deed they will hold it until the tax lien clears. Then they will give you the deed and they will give the property owner a check! I am not an attorney or a real estate broker. I am an author and publisher of tax lien and deed investor for over 30 years. Go to the title company and do what they tell you to do.

Respectfully,

Ted Thomas 

Hi Roger,

Thank you for the question. The next thing you should do is go to the local county and get the rules, they might be online depending on the county you are in. Find out what the rule is - the certificate doesn't last forever, the certificate will expire and more than likely the tax delinquent owner won't pay the taxes and the county will award you the property. The certificate will run out or expire in some way so you need to find out the date when that is going to happen. The process after that is the individual is going to pay you or you get the property. 

You might be on to something big, first get the HOA bylaws and see what they say, the tax lien is the first and priority lien on the property and more than likely the association is the second lien on the property. The county will not hesitate, they will foreclose. in most jurisdictions when they foreclose they have the ability to extinguish, that is wipe out, any junior lien. A junior lien has nothing to do with amount, but the day of filing. 

You need to research the county and the state rules. They are listed as statutes. Every state is different.

Respectfully,

Hi Derick,

Your question is a good one! All of the answers will be located in the county rules and regulations and in the statutes for the District Of Columbia. I doubt if anyone is trying to give you a run-around. It's just the matter of knowing the rules and knowing what to do- every county and state are different. 

Respectfully,

Hi An,

Congratulations, what interest rate is your certificate going to pay?? Here is to hoping you make a bundle. 

Regarding if there will be another tax lien certificate next year, you can always ask the county. Of course you could search for it because you have the Property ID number. 

Woah, regarding the city, I'd follow up on that one and figure out what's going on. keeping in mind, tax's can be assessed by cities, something school districts, sometimes the counties. This can be totally confusing and you could end up with liens you don't know about. Learning how to do computer property research is a must with Tax Lien Certificate purchasers. 

@Bill Williams Thanks for asking the question.

99% of the people have no clue about the right answer... So let me give you a little insight. Tax Auctions are not a lot of hype like everybody thinks. They always have very specific rules. In Florida the certificates start at 18% and the bidding process goes like this.. 18%, 17 1/2%, 17%. In other words it's a bid down process. If you understand the rules in Florida you will find out it is a great state to buy tax lien certificates.  A few savvy bidder bid 1/4% because they know that Florida pays a minimum of 5%. Think about that, the savvy bidder invested a 1/4% and when they get paid they get 5%. That's a lot more than Bank Of America or Chase is paying right now. 

Respectfully,