In fact one of the nice features of that program is that it's non-recourse, so the lender has little interest in your personal circumstances.I do hear you about wanting to exit in 3-5 years though - that might indicate regular commercial bank financing is better.Why do you feel other people have passed this opportunity over?

I've not watched the program/webinar but I have been bombarded with him on my Face Book with ads.

In some areas (NYC being one of them) there is a partial and full certificate of occupancy.

You can use a company like Cleartosell.com which will certify the tax deed (for around $2700 and 3 weeks)  and certain underwriters will be willing to insure the title based on their certification.  

They said for now if I pay the $5k I will receive a tax lien certificate.

There may be some slight changes since the official counts come out after all certificates are paid.Number of liens sold to investors:2016 - 1,880 (1,600 bought by investors - 280 Struck to County as no bidders)2015 - 2,039 (1,808 bought by investors - because 231 struck to county as no bidders)2014 - 2,5752013 - 2,382Total dollar of liens sold:2016 - $1,874,010.88  ( $1,694,277.89 bought by investors and $179,732.99 not sold)2015 - $2,678,533.35 ($2,336,551.03 bought by investors - $341,982.32 not sold)2014 - $3,015,871.872013 - $3,435,014.32Average rate of return overall:2016 - 6.28% (5.25% by investors when subtracting out struck to county liens which all get 16%)2015 - 6.75% (5.40% by investors when subtracting out struck to county liens which all get 16%)2014 - 5.86%2013 - 6.55%Number of Investors who won liens:2016 - 742015 - 89 2014 - 1162013 - 201Total Number of bids for all liens:2016 - 8,8232015 - 10,5252014 - 18,8122013 - 99,073,789You bid down the interest rate in 1% increments from 16% down to 0%.

I wanted to get BP's opinion on tenants that are Veterans and their rent is paid through a voucher program.

County tax collectors office for tax certificates

While large profits can be made in any one deal, each business or investment program must be looked at over a long period of time, to determine return on capital, or return on time.  

So my question to anyone who's read this far is, have you gone through the Smart Start University program?