County tax auction profits

Hi everybody. Dan Blacharski here. I am the author of “Learning to Play the Real Estate Tax Auction Game”, which will be available shortly on Amazon.com and also through this site. In the book and within the entries of this blog, I will share some of the secrets of this opportunity, and why RIGHT NOW is the best time to take the leap and get into county real estate tax auctions.

A short introduction to real estate county tax auctions: Every county in America depends on property taxes to fund necessary services. When property owners fall behind on their property taxes, or when they abandon their properties, the county doesn’t have enough money to fund those services; as a result, they seize the properties for delinquent taxes (by putting a lien on them), and then auction those liens off at a public auction. When you win a bid at a tax lien auction, you own the lien. That means when and if the owner pays the back taxes due, they will also have to pay a substantial penalty and interest, which goes to you, the investor. It is very common to get returns of 10%, 20%, 30% or more. On the other hand, if the property owner does not repay the back taxes within a prescribed period of time, then the county assigns title to the property to you, free and clear. Either way, you can’t lose.

Investors use this auction technique in two ways. Some investors simply go into it for the financial return, banking on owners paying up their taxes to avoid losing their homes. Other investors, like myself, focus more on properties that are vacant or abandoned, which are unlikely to be redeemed by the owner–and are able to gain title to properties very inexpensively. In a later entry, I’ll describe how I helped a friend of mine gain title to two homes he won at auction for a total of $3,000; now he is living in one and renting out the other.

Look for more information here about the specifics of how to participate safely in this opportunity, and how to make big money through real estate tax auctions during the present recession.