How do I buy homes with tax liens on them?

Question

I am trying to get into the home buying business and I heard that you could buy homes for little to nothing with liens on them I would i get started

Answer 1

You are looking for are tax sales and sheriff sales. These are typically posted at your local county court house. Go to the court house and ask at the assessment office, or tax claim. One or the other will send you where you want to go. Every so often they have auctions for the properties.

Where you have to be careful is if you purchase a property that still has a mortgage lien on it. You buy it for back taxes but you are also buying the old mortgage too. You'll have to do a title search of sorts to see what else, if anything, is owed on the property.

Sometimes financial institutions that hold mortgages on these properties will purchase the properties at those auctions. Then they may put it with your local real estate agent. There are some deals to be had at this level as well.

Good luck.

Answer 2

First of all, be vary careful. Make sure you have a good attorney representing you. Often properties sold from delinquent tax liens have several other liens attached to the property.

If you're talking about foreclosure homes, then you can't get title insurance to protect you from the unrecorded and/or outstanding liens and the payment is required to be all cash.

If you're talking about a bank owned property or a "short sale" then you don't have a s much to worry about. These homes are usually heavily discounted (about 20-25%) and come with all the warranties and financing options that a traditional real estate purchase would have.

Another thing to consider, is that if these homes were truly such a bargain, then why haven't they sold already?

Check your local foreclosure laws and the rights of redemption for the seller.

Just so you know, I am not trying to discourage you from getting into the home-buying business, in fact, I think now is a fantastic opportunity for people with a long term (7-10 years) investment time frame to be buying houses. If you can afford the payments and get into a conservative long term loan, you have nothing to worry about.

I am a Realtor in California and the market in my particular area of the state is doing quite well. We've had a slight drop in prices percentage wise, which equals about $75,000-$125,000 off the list prices. Some areas of the county of been hit harder and have dropped 20-35%, but overall we are only down around 6% so far.

Please check your local state real estate laws before doing anything. I only know the California market and I know it varies greatly from state to state.

Good luck.

Answer 3

There's a book called Complete Guide to Real Estate Tax Liens and Foreclosure Deeds: Learn in 7 Days by Don Sausa that shows you how to buy tax liens. Pretty cheap on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

After reading it though, it gives a clearer picture that tax liens is not the magic bullet that is played on infomercials on TV. You have to wait 2-3 years before you can even try to foreclose on a house (6 months in Texas for non-homesteads).

So there are a ton of variables really in it and it is a "doable" investment, but like any other investments, you can't get rich quick.

Answer 4

In addition to the helpful information provided by others, also check the state statutes of the area in which you live to see how long the current owner has to 'redeem' the property after you purchase a tax lien. Some are outrageously long. Louisiana, for example, allows the current owner three YEARS to redeem the property by paying to you the back taxes plus interest. All you have at that point is a monetary investment on which you make decent interest revenue.

Answer 5

it would desire to be valid, yet you particularly would desire to appreciate the real sources industry, and specific would desire to do very a good number of artwork to get the residing house waiting for resale. undergo in concepts, there is possibly an particularly good reason that the guy who owns the valuables isn't paying the taxes. the different ingredient to contemplate is; whether it extremely is that elementary and profitable, why is john beck doing those infomercials extremely than spending his time in simple terms buying and reselling tax lien residences? the respond: He makes so plenty extra getting gullible human beings to pay him to tell them the thank you to do it than he could ever make buying those distressed residences. And without possibility!!!

Answer 6

I looked at forclosuretogo.com site. It had some tax foreclosures too. Then they wanted me to give them all my personal information. I decided to look in the areas first .Then check out real estate offices. I want to see a large reduction before I bite on these foreclosures.

Answer 7

They occur but are much rarer than those stupid "get rich quick" TV ads indicate. Most foreclosures are by mortgage lenders, not by the counties due to tax delinquency.

Answer 8

need more infos. on this