But here in upstate NY if it's a town/city/county tax lien auction & you win the bid there is no redemption, assuming the city/town then approves the bid.

More or less something like you put down your bet, if the house wins, you cancel the bet and get your money back. 

The key to winning in CA is time and patience.

I furthered my education by reading "Writing Winning Business Plans" by Garrett Sutton, "Tax-Free Wealth" by Tom Wheelwright, and, naturally, "The Book on Rental Property Investing" by Brandon Turner.

Slow and steady still wins race.

Also, I just read up on the program, is it true that they take half of your profit for EVERY transaction, or just w/in those first 90 days?

A win win for both sides. 

Wally Amos of "Famous Amos Cookies" got hs start by handing out freshbaked cookies.

This could be as high as 18%, per the statutory maximum from FSS 197.172(1) or, very often, as little as 0.25%.197.472    Redemption of tax certificates.(2) When a tax certificate is redeemed and the interest earned on the tax certificate is less than 5 percent of the face amount of the certificate, a mandatory minimum interest of an absolute 5 percent shall be levied upon the face value of the tax certificate. [...]Translation: When a property owner pays their delinquent taxes and thus redeems a tax lien certificate, if the certificate has yet to accrue a total of 5% at the rate at which the winning bidder won the certificate, then the winning bidder receives 5%.

Slow and steady wins the race .