I found a list!

I don't think you would have enough time to make a deal with the owner, so that they could pay back payments and penalties before the 8th. After the bank takes ownership, you can deal with them. You might want to look a little farther ahead. Get a list of auctions that will be taking place in a month or two, and contact the owners of those properties.

Al

Depending on your state, you will either have Tax Lien Certificate auctions or Tax Deed auctions. Both are generated by delinquent taxes over a period of time. If your state is a Tax Cert. state, when you go to auction you will bid on the right to pay back taxes for the homeowner, it does not give ownership. If you are a Tax Deed state you will bid on the property itself.
You can usually find a list of back taxes which are usually posted at your county courthouse 45 days prior to auction. If you are wanting to find them before that time, check with your county collectors office and they can guide you to find them. Each county/state will be different how they post them. If you are wanting to purchase the property from the homeowner, you will need to find them prior to the list coming out.

is it legal to contact the owner to buy out his tax obligation, if it is then how to go about it.
In new york city and surrounding areas only.
Thank you Ali.

I don't think it's "illegal" to contact the owner. I do know that NYC (I'm from Brooklyn) doesn't have tax sales auctions. (not for private investors) I actually thought about taking that route myself. I just need to take the leap and JUST DO IT!!

I am new poster on this site. I am going crazy just trying to figure out where to start. I stumbled across an auction list for my county (San Joaquin) in CA. I have several questions that I hope someone can help me with. Has anyone had any success with obtaining properties via auction? Some of the minimum bids on the list is way below the FMV of the home which leads me to my next question. When getting financing from a bank ( I have some money to put down), how do you convince them to finance this property even though the purchase price (or amount you'd like to be financed for) is way below the FMV. If contacting the owner, what type of offer to do you make to the owner? Do you use what they owe or FMV less the taxes owed? Hope my posting is clear. Sorry so long.

NO WAY do you offer them FMV less taxes owed? You're offering taxes + what ever you think will sweeten the deal. You have to understand - they are in danger of losing their property PERIOD. If they wind up being greedy, (from what I learned from others) let them go. If they don't understand that you are offering to allow them to walk away from their property with some $$ as oppose to having it TAKEN, then that's their loss.

JOYJERSAR,
I don't know about other states or even counties, but where I am I'm starting to think auctions are scams! I know of more than 10 people who have won a bid on a house at auction and the bank later called to say that they want more money. For example, one investor won a bid on a house with FMV at $120K, they won they bid with $99K, the bank called and said they wouldn't take less than $140K. Another won the bid with $87K and a week later the bank called, wanting $120K. There are LOTS of stories like these, just in the small circles of people we know! I have gone to these auctions, lured in by the low starting bids, and now I'm wondering if you really can get any good deals at them. I was wondering if anyone else has had experiences like these, or if you think auctions are a great place to get a good deal on a house?

I look forward to any advice anyone out there has. There are TONS of auction houses out here, and if I could figure out a good way to get a deal at auction, I'd be very happy! We tried to put an offer on a house yesterday, and were told that it's going to auction so they are not looking at any offers.

Thanks everyone!

Auction scams? Well, that's why it's very important that you do your research and due dilligence before anything else. Just as if you were doing your research on property as if you were to purchase it. I would never go and bid on auctions unless i know it's legit. Auctions such as government auction, state, county or city. Anybody can have an auction, but they must follow the laws, rules and regulations as stated by the state their in. If this was the case in CA and the banks did what they did, i suggest that the investors should file a law suit against the banks and the people who held the auction. That's my take on this and that's why it's really IMPORTANT THAT WE ALL DO OUR RESEARCH BEFORE AND DUE DILLIGENCE.

Lloyd

Hi Lloyd. I agree that it's important to do our research! My investor friends also did their research on each property they bid on -- that's why they didn't end up with the properties! They knew how much the properties were worth and how high they were willing to go on each. That's what I'm saying--they assumed they were getting a great deal on those homes because they won the bids with offers well below FMV. When the banks called, asking for more money, each of them walked.

I also don't think that the auctions are doing anything illegal. They tell you right away that the final sell is subject to the banks' approval. So just because you won the bid on a house, you still have to negotiate with the banks, in some cases. The reason I said it seems like a bit of a scam is because they lure you in to the auction with low starting bids, and then the bank is still going to demand a certain price, no matter what the winning bid was. (Of course, I'm sure if the bid was high enough, the bank would accept it, no problem.) This is not just one or two isolated cases, either. This has happened to many people I know.

I COMPLETELY AGREE that it's soooo important to do all your research before going to an auction, or else you may end up paying way to much for a property.

I read and talked to someone who told me that the banks have bids on the houses they're trying to auction off, so they don't lose the house at too low of a bid. Let's say FMV is $150k and you win the bid at $100k. The banks reserve was $140k. It used to be that at the auction, right then and there, they would tell you your bid was too low and you didn't win. However, the banks don't want the public to see that bids are being rejected. They want people to continue showing up. So they're letting the bidders think that they won their bid (people are saying "Wow, what a good deal, I'm going to bid"), only to have the bank call them later and tell the bidder they didn't make the banks reserve, therefore the bank will make a "good faith gesture" and offer the house to you for $140k. You can get some good deals at auctions, but unfortunately there are some yucky auction houses that have no problem letting the banks do this because they're still making a little a money finding bidders for the property. You need to make sure that the auction you're going to doesn't hold this practice, but that all bids are final.

Thanks Kim. That makes a lot of sense to me and validates what I have been seeing. Each of the auctions that this has happened at were on-site auctions, and I am wondering if you can have better luck at a courthouse auction. I think I'll try going to one at the courthouse and see what those are like.

I was going over the U.S. home auction list and saw a property there that I was offering on,the bank wanted 85k an ARV was 145k. I offered 40k, well after I saw the list I called the listing agent, an asked why they would`nt just accept my offer if the starting price was so low,well he finally said it was up to the bank and the starting price was just that.
well that same property is still bank owned, and now they are asking 60k because values have dropped so much.

I guess i didn't have all the info you provided above. I guess that eplains it. If they bank tell you "the final sell of the property in subject to the banks's approval", then it's really not an auction, but a way for the bank to lure everyone to bid on their properties and avoid being sue. Sounds like that's another way for the bank to screw the consumers like we have been for years. They are the reaon we are in recession and the economy crisis, and they have the nerve to do this? You and everyone esle should get your state representative or Attorney General look into to this. Like the saying says, if it walks like a duck, then it must be a duck. Sorry to hear about your bad experience, but i hope everyone should have learned from this scam. It is a Scam!

LL

I agree about the banks! I'll tell you, the more I learn about RE Investing, the less I like banks!! They ARE a major cause of this recession, and they are (in my experience) not too willing to help us all get out of it!

You hit the nail on the head right there, 5H.

Brian

you are not allowed to contact property owners that are on the tax sale list!!