How Can I Find Out About Houses That Are Up For Sale For Back Taxes?

The easiest way to find out which houses are up for sale for back taxes in your area

is to do one of two things: call your local tax sale office, and inquire about when the tax sale is held, and how to get a list of properties that will be for sale; or, find a tax sale list online at one of several popular tax sale websites.

The information you'll be able to find out about houses that are up for sale for back taxes is limited. You can generally find out how much is owed in taxes, and thus, what the opening bid or price will be for the property. You can find out the addresses, and the owners' names. You may be able to find out other details about the properties from the tax assessor's website for the county the property is in, and you also may be able to find out details from a real estate agent who has access to the MLS, if the house has been sold in the past.

Other than that, however, you'll be on your own at the tax sale. You can't inspect the interior of houses that are up for sale for back taxes. When you get to the tax sale, you'll have to bid against other people, and generally properties get bid up to near retail value. If those two factors don't have you running in the opposite direction, they should.

A much better way to get back tax properties is by buying them directly from their owners. If you wait until after the house has been sold at tax sale and contact the owners near the end of the redemption period, when it's "do or die" time, you'll find even stubborn owners are ready to move on at that point and sell - often for as low as hundreds or a few thousand dollars. And, you'll get to see the property before you buy it that way.

If what you're looking for is not necessarily to own property but just to make some sizable paychecks, consider collecting the overages created at these same tax sales. When someone bids more for a property than is owed in taxes, that overages is generally due back to the owner. Unfortunately, many owners have already moved and aren't notified that they're due the funds.

If not collected in time, these funds escheat to the government. Professional tax sale overage recovery specialists find lists of these funds, locate the owners, and collect a 30-50% finder's fee for their information and assistance in recovering the funds. You'd think the owners would put two and two together and collect the overage themselves, but they are almost never aware of the existence of the money. Without a money finder to help them, they'd lose everything.

by: Maggie Dawson

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