All Forum Posts by: Ed Tamayo

 I have purchased several properties in South Carolina.  (spartanburg county to be precise). The tax sale was massive. with over 1500 properties and was done in an arena.  All the properties I purchased redeemed and I did win some money but my best deal out of that tax sale came from contacting the owners of the auctioned off properties after the sale. 

The thing with tax delinquent properties is that the owners might be motivated to sale.  If they are not paying the taxes it could be that they can't afford to keep the property and rather sale it. People actually pay money to learn of opportunities like this. 

as for the actual deal. Yes, you can offer  cash plus paying for the taxes. 

If you do buy it, it works as any other transaction and there would not be a redemption period as it would be a regular sale. 

@Ned Carey   

"tax sales are becoming more well known as an investment vehicle because of the internet."

I think this is true.  Also, I think the market is still going strong (despite some people wondering when the next recession is going to hit) 

"This could be a fluke or if this is the first tax sale you have been to this year it may be an indication of higher prices to come."

I think this is an indication of trend but at the same I don't think that all prices will go as high as this time around.  

This week I went to the Gwinnett County, Georgia, tax sale and I am sharing my experience as it was little bit different than dozens of other tax sales that I have attended.

I have been buying properties in tax sales for about five years now in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee and what I found unusual was how high the properties went for. One house sold for more than the county assessment something that I have never seen before. Other houses weren’t too far off from the county assessment. Of course, the county assessment is usually lower than the market value but I don’t recall seeing paying as much. Furthermore, people doing the bidding appeared to be people who had done tax sales before.

In Georgia you get 20% interest if the former owner redeems on the first year, and you can do a foreclosure of right to redeem one year after the tax sale. Only after the foreclosure has been done, you can access the house. 

@Mitchell Handley  

Sorry for the ate reply. I took off for the weekend and really disconnected from everything.

I look for Tax sale lists =, which is going to be a small subset of the regular properties with delinquent taxes.  

@Enos Yoder

What has been working for me is what I call extremely delinquent property tax properties.

These are properties that are so back in property tax payments that a court order (Fi FA) has been obtained to seize the property if taxes are not paid.

The counties and cities publish a list of those properties as tax sale lists.

This approach works better in tax deed states where the property is auctioned off and not just a lien in the property.

Thanks Douglas for the detailed response. I'll keep your advise in mind as I work on a facebook campaign I am planning

HI Douglas,  Let me try  a question that I hope is specific enough. 

I am thinking that nowadays, if all other factors remain the same, Facebook advertising is  most cost effective than google ads. Would you agree with this blanket statement?

Francisco - You just have to live with the fact that every county may have different procedures.  I have even run into the fact that things may change in the same county from year to  year.  Finally, when I started visiting county offices I was surprised of the rotation of people and there is always some may not know how things work. So, if you don';t get  what you want on their  website or by phone, you have to show up at the tax offices. 

Buying properties at tax sales and later selling them is the focus of my investing and,  YES, its worth the time. But, most definitely, your mileage may vary, depending on a number of factors with the primary one being the state where you do this.