OfflineComing home from churh yesterday, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a house with grass knee high and furniture sitting on the front yard. I went by again today and no one was home, so I got the address, went back and got on my laptop to the tax office and looked up the info. Would you believe it was most likely sold for taxes this past Friday the 29th (they do this once a year here). It stated if taxes were not paid, it would be sold on 5/29 and our tax office also published a list in the local paper which I got and sure enough, there it was. I have the owners name, but phone is disconnected and I have not been able to track her down. Question...would the lien holder (if there was one) most likely had bid on this property Friday to protect their interest? In my state, it is a 3 year period to allow the person to pay the tax back plus interest. Obviously, I would love to find this person and pay the tax and purchase the home at a discount (as it is evident they are in trouble). I'm sure if they haven't paid their taxes, their mortgage is behind as well. If I could find out her mortgage company, would it be worth going to them and if so, with what approach? Any thoughts???
Tax Sales Advice
Posted on: Mon, 06/02/2008 - 22:42
I am 23 years old. I have just purchased a $550 tax lien certificate. the property is valued at $40,000 and near a very desirable river, and being new to the RE game I would be forever grateful for any advice anyone out there may have on what next steps to take with this investment. Thank you fellow future millionaires.
New to this all....found a property in Pa going to auction on the 25th September for $1789 in taxes. My friend/realtor is heading to courthouse to get info~ I am re-reading Dean's Chapter 18, but~~Any advice on what we might want to be looking for??? Thanks!!!
I would like to be more clear on the tax sale of a property process...Let say you find a property, grass is overgrown and it is aparent that the house is not occupied. I run the address on the county site and it shows the owners are way behind on their taxes and lets say there is still a mortgage on the property. Would this property be a possible tax sale or would it just go into the normal foreclosure process ?.....What dictates a tax sale vs a standard foreclosure ? What is the best source to locate tax sales of properties ?
Thank you.....B.A.
Bicino,
In direct response to your tax lein question above and others in general. This is one area of REI that I have been looking into and tho my state only does sales once a year (June) the redemption period is only 6 months. Quick turn in MD - tho most aren't online. My understanding of the process, tho I am by no means an expert.
Best place to find tax sale info is your local tax assessors office in your county. Or there are numerous sites on line that give you tax sale info as far as where, when, and if they are online.
In your example above - any property that the taxes are behind is a possible tax sale. At your counties auction any properties that have not been brought to date will be offered for sale. If the morgage company or bank has not paid the taxes and started forclosure by the sale date the property goes to tax sale. The owner or any principal (ie mortgage holder) has until the end of the redemption period to pay the lien back and retain control of the property. If it is not paid by the redemption date the purchaser of the lien can record deed in their name and the property is theirs. The only thing that overrides a county or state tax sale as Sully said is an IRS lein.
So in your above example - Grabup the tax lien if it is available at the auction. You can't just go in and buy anytime, unless the property did not sell at the last auction then your assessors office will have it for direct sale. If the bank wants to forclose they have to pay off your lien by the redemption date. Alot of time banks may not receive notice due to note being sold back and forth, but if it gets to auction IT IS YOURS>
There are two Basic types of tax auctions - liens and deeds that are two very different things. Some states have tax deed sales - actually a full tax auction. In a tax deed sale the property itself is sold to repay the taxes. You buy it you own it outright. Once bought you would have to have the sherrifs office perfotm an eviction etc ... and my understanding os that any amount in excess of the taxes that the property sells for goes back to the owner, but I may be wrong on this.
The other type is the lien sale. In the lien auction you are buying an interest in the deed, not the property itself. Say a 100,000 property has 500 in deliquent taxes. Buyer would bid on the amount above the 500 they were willing to pay to "buy" the lien. High bidder geta a lien on the property and in order to get back the rights the owner has to pay the full amount auctioned for plus your state approved intrest to the tax assessors office. If they don't by the end of the redemption the lien holder can do a deed transfer and owns the property.
Basic gist - deed sales are immediate property sales, liens are not.