Delinquent Tax Properties - Buying Liens at Tax Sale or Deed Sale May Not Be the Way to Go

If you're looking to make money from delinquent tax properties, there are several ways to do it. First, get clear on why you want to get involved with tax delinquent properties in the first place. There are two basic ways to make money by attending tax sales: interest on tax liens that you can purchase, whose owners end up paying you off, or by acquiring the properties directly at rock-bottom prices.

If you're interested in earning an above market interest rate on your money, consider going with tax liens. Half or so of the states in the US sell tax liens to recoup back taxes on delinquent properties. After you buy a lien, the owner of the property (and other parties with an interest) will have a certain period of time, called the redemption period, to pay of the lien with interest and reimbursement for your legal fees.

If you don't really want to end up with property and are just looking for the interest, buy liens on nice properties in good areas. Most of the time, the lien will be bid up close to retail value, but usually you do end up getting the stated interest rate on the entire amount of your investment. By investing in nicer properties, you're almost guaranteed to earn your interest. Over 95% of properties in the best condition and highest value end up being redeemed. If you are going to invest this way, just make sure you don't overpay for the lien in the rare event the lien doesn't get redeemed. In that case, you would apply for a deed after the redemption period and become the owner of the property for what you paid for the lien.

If you're looking to acquire property, you may attend a tax deed sale, where deed/immediate ownership of the properties are offered. Here you will be bidding against many other people and the price often reaches near market value. You may have to bid on low-end properties just to have a chance at getting one. Also, you'll probably need to hire an attorney to wade through all the legal work that goes along with acquiring property this way (same with a lien, as well).

Does this mean it's hard to get tax delinquent property for cheap? Not at all. If you're looking to acquire property easily and/or make lump sums of cash fast, the way to do that is to buy tax delinquent properties from the owners, without going to the auctions/sales, before they are lost to the lien holder or sold at deed sale at the end of the redemption period... a process I fondly refer to as "deedgrabbing." Now, you won't need to wait to get your property, and forget all the research needed to buy tax liens or tax deeds. Just see who is about to lose their property to tax sale, and contact them a month or less before! Most of the delinquent tax properties that have made it that close to the sale/auction are free and clear, because mortgage companies will pay off taxes for homes with mortgages rather than lose their interest in the property. And at this point, often the owners simply don't want the properties anymore, or can't afford the upkeep and responsibility. You can easily buy these properties, and immediately resell for huge profits- or keep them as rentals, and start to build your real estate empire!