where to find a list of tax sale homes?
I would like to buy a home for myself.
Contact the local tax collector’s office in the county where you wish to buy.
Be advised that many states don’t auction off the property but the right to collect the past-due taxes plus interest from the current owner. The owner has a period of time, typically 2 or 3 years, to pay you the taxes and the interest. If they don’t pay you off in time then you have to foreclose on the tax deed to take possession.
It’s also a myth that you will pick up nice properties on the cheap this way. Typically you’ll wind up paying something pretty close to market value once the bidding is done.
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February 17th, 2010 at 7:43 am
Contact the local tax collector’s office in the county where you wish to buy.
Be advised that many states don’t auction off the property but the right to collect the past-due taxes plus interest from the current owner. The owner has a period of time, typically 2 or 3 years, to pay you the taxes and the interest. If they don’t pay you off in time then you have to foreclose on the tax deed to take possession.
It’s also a myth that you will pick up nice properties on the cheap this way. Typically you’ll wind up paying something pretty close to market value once the bidding is done.
References :
February 17th, 2010 at 8:25 am
Try reading a book called the 16% solution. It talks all about tax lien certificates. One of his main points is to remember that MOST of the time, tax certificates are brought current before the lien holder can legally foreclose.
Some counties do actually foreclose and auction off the property, not just tax liens. In these counties it is VERY rare for a useful piece of property to be auctioned off. Usually the tax lots being sold are useless strips of land between other properties, between diagonal roads, etc. For example a builder might buy 5 acres, subdivide it about 40 1/8 acre lots, build & sell 40 houses and walk away. There might be a small strip of land left over or a triangle between a road and a drainage ditch. This gets classified as a separate piece of land and a separate tax lot during subdivision. The builder doesn’t pay his property taxes so the county takes the deed and sells it. You show up at auction, bid the $500 minimum, pay, and drive out to the lot to find that you just purchased a drainage ditch. Just be careful.
References :