Thinking of investing in property tax liens but I am worried about what happens when they do not pay the delinquent taxes. Would I get the house free and clear or have to fight for the right of ownership in long court battles. Or would I simply have a lien on the property?
Ida
Comments
There are some that say you can buy some houses just for the tax bill that is owed. You pay the taxes, you own the house.
But that is not all tax liens….I think you bid on the final amount of taxes owed. So be careful…and inspect the property….and one program is advertized on Cable how to do it….and they have to tell you what is owed…..
That’s why you need title insurance. The title search will reveal an unpaid tax lien or the title company is responsible for the surprise payment. There is no free money and you are VERY unlikely to obtain a decent property for the unpaid taxes alone.
What makes these infomercials so whack is that they find one or two people who were successful, and then make it seem easy for you to be successful. If that were the case, why wouldn’t they just invest in the plan? Answer: they are selling you a bogus plan because there is far more money to be made by selling a plan to fools than in actually following a stupid plan.
Investing in tax property takes a tough soul. Kicking people out of your house after you Stole it from the by paying their taxes that they could not afford. is tough.. In my state of Illinois you buy their property at a scavenger sale, and it is then yours. Mostly garbage stuff, and not worth the time or trouble.
Tax sales are also held each year for late taxes that will take you two years to get possession as they have that long to pay the make up their late payment. You are not allowed on property until you get a tax deed. Mostly you get the interest that they have to pay on the tax amount you paid. That could be a big return in itself.. The catch is that there are companies that go around paying late taxes and pretty well have it tied up. At lease at my last auction, it was pretty well in the bag.
Mortgage is lost on tax sales..
If a home is free and clear of mortgages and it goes up for a tax lien sale. The it is free and clear to you. However if you indeed place a bid on a tax leaned home you MUST do your due diligence on the property. Because you also will be taking on all other liens (mechanic lien etc.)
So you will also get that mess that was left that could cost you more than 50K. to clean up…So BEWARE of tax liens. And investagate everything before your bid.
the homes that you are buying for 2-3k are homes that are paid off, usually if there is mortgage company with a note on the property they have to pay for the property taxes or they will lose the money.
The tax liens that you pay off to the county in a county tax sale/ auction, have to be clear of any liens. The county always gives you a disclosure telling you to do your due diligence( which means inspect the title) I would have a title search on the property with a local realtor, they can help because if you like the business of buying and selling you can have him as your realtor of choice, but when your buying these tax sales your are getting them from the county tax assessor that is tired of sending bills to the owners of these homes, or land and they don’t pay, so the county wants to collect. They have a choice to pay or the property goes to auction and who ever purchases, they own the property. A few reasons why they are sold through the auctions are:
homeowner past away
homeowner cant pay and didnt find no one to help
stabburn owner,
disown owner, no one to help with his finances
moved out the country,
loses his freedom(goes to jail)
Becomes Crazy( happen to one of my clients)
All I can say if you do get the home email me with your ordeal and good luck.
hopefully this can help.
