subject: How Real Estate Tax Sales And Tax Sale Overages Really Work [print this page] Real estate tax sales and tax sale overages are two araes where just about anyone, of any educational background, can become extremely successful - if they know what they're doing. Even if you're a beginner, if you know which types of property to buy, and how and when to buy them, you'll be as successful as the big guys, right out of the gate. Real estate tax sales and tax sale overages are plentiful, inexpensive, and a bigger inventory of them is being created every day - through tax foreclosures.
A guess: you're wondering why not to just go to tax sale, and buy property there. Your competitors want these properties too - and will make sure you don't get anything for a steal. Not only that, but you're buying property sight unseen! No inspection is allowed before tax sale. Again - tax sale is a waste of your time. 95% of the time, the owners redeem their property out from under you anyway.
No problem - you'll still get plenty of tax property, just taking a different route. The end of the redemption period is a golden time in tax sale investing; approach the owners then, and you'll get plenty of property. Owners that still aren't paid up are usually those that are letting the property go on purpose - because they don't want it anymore.
You'll be able to buy these properties for next to nothing. You'll often find these owners live across the country, and that this is a second home, or inherited home, that they just don't want to deal with anymore. It's easy to get these deeds - just ask if you can have them. Tell them you can afford to pay them $200 for the time they'll have to take out of their busy schedule. If you want to, you can pay the taxes and keep the property; otherwise, a realtor can help you price it for a quick sale - and you walk away with thousands in your pocket.
This technique is a winner. And it's the perfect time to start, with a huge number of foreclosures right now.
There's an even bigger secret - in about half the states in the U.S., when someone bids more for a property than is owed for taxes, that overage amount is held for the owner to come in and collect. But the owners frequently aren't aware that this is the case. They've often moved, and thus don't get any notice that's sent to the tax sale address. And guess what happens next? If they don't collect it in time, the government gets to keep it.
The good news is, since this money is being held by the tax sale agency, not a state agency, it isn't subject to finder's fee limits in most cases. That means it's legal for you to charge up to 50% to locate and help collect these funds for owners. That means some nice paydays for you, since real estate tax sales and tax sale overages often genrate $10,000 or much more in profit potential.
