Tax lien certificates can be a great investment if you know what you are doing and pick cities/counties that do not have a tremendous amount of competion for you.

Brother, I have worked the streets, the city and the county and know exactly how the game is played.

By looking up the records and liens at the county Recorder of Deeds office, I am guestimating that the defaulted loan amount was $140k.

If it doesn't, google for "landlord tenant law" with the name of your city, county, or state.

I'm looking to move soon as my girlfriend is graduating next month and were trying to get a fresh start in the Thousand Oaks/Orange County area of California.

Do I contact the owner, county courthouse, mortgage company holding the primary mortgage on the property?

Meaning I can't rely on the county appraiser.

If the answer is yes, then it is time to ask the seller for the P&L & rent roll statements for the past two years along with the prop tax and insurance bills (current).Remember that when you purchase the property, the tax rate may be higher depending on may factors such as the county in which the property is located.Good luck and keep searching.Send an email with help evaluating the next deal.

There are cases where we have seen companies that offer various counties as bundles and so forth.

a good realtor can pull a list of absentee owners for you in yor area. in my county i can go to rent court and look at the owners filing for eviciton/rent court and get their information. that's 1 way to compile it. same with probates, tehre's the register of wills. as far as vendors, the cost is relative to your budget. there are companies like site-x data, and first american realty solutions and haines who provide data and you can pull a list from there. another popular vendor to pull lists from is melissadata.