How to Make 16% – 32% on Tax Liens

Make 16-32% on your money Buying Tax liens from the comfort of your home.

Most people teaching Tax Lien Investing or actually doing the investing believe that the only way to obtain a Tax Lien is by going to the actual auction in person and bid. This is still the normal procedure for most counties but what most people don’t know is a little hidden secret which allows anyone to get them from the comfort of your own home. All you need to have is a computer and access to the internet or in the worst case a stamp, a piece of paper and an envelope. Just imagine what you could do if you would not have to travel to make money. Technique #1:

Tax Lien Investing – Keeping Your Exit Strategy In Mind

When investing in Tax Liens you need to first STOP and think about what you want to accomplish. Too many people just run to a Tax Lien Sale intrigued by the prospect of a very high interest rate (which they will get) only to realize after they bought some good tax liens, that

1. The interest payments are not monthly or yearly but only when and IF the property owner redeems the Tax Lien on the property.

2. There is no way of knowing when and if the redemption will happen, and therefore there is not way of knowing when the investor will get his initial capital plus interest will be paid back.

3. It is possible to want to just get a high interest rate and then end up with the actual property (usually though that is a good thing and I call it “hitting the jack pot”)

How to Do a Title Search on Tax Lien and Tax Deed Properties

When you do a title search basically what you are looking for is Marketable Title. Marketable title is really the absence of liens and clouds, the absence of IRS liens, and the absence of missing links in the chain of title.

Missing links in the chain of title could be for example when the original a person owned a property for 40 years and then passed away and his kids started paying the taxes and eventually they want to sell the property. Well if there was no probate or no will or anything like that, then there is no indication of who should receive this property. It might be that the deceased’s will was to give it to his church. It might be that he mentioned to somebody, “You know what, when I die you’ll get this property,” and this person might even have a witness. Nobody can prove anything and the only solution here is to have the heirs go through a probate procedure to clear the title. For that you or they will most likely need to hire an attorney and it will take a few months.

Tax Lien Investing – Interest Rate or Property Ownership

When it comes to Tax delinquent Property Investing and Tax Lien Investing in particular the investor (=you) has two choices.

1. Does he want to go for the high interest rate offered by “Tax Lien Certificates”
2. Does he want to go for the chance to get the property through foreclosure of the Tax Lien Certificate?

Although I personally like the Second option better and am actually a fan of yet a third way of buying tax delinquent property directly from the owner outside of auctions for as little as $100 to $500 and sell it within days for many thousands of dollars.

Purchasing Tax Lien Certificates

It is never a pleasant experience when a property owner loses the ability to pay their annual property taxes. However, when a property owner does becomes a delinquent taxpayer, it is up to the municipal government to collect owed property taxes. As such, the local government initiates a tax sale where a tax lien certificate, representing your unpaid taxes, can be auctioned off to the highest (or lowest) bidder.

Tax lien auctions work like this: A jurisdictional court orders a tax lien auction to sell tax lien certificates representing all the unpaid property taxes in the county. Depending upon the state, and the nature of the tax sale (it can be an auction for Tax Deed Sales or Tax Lien Certificates), you can buy a tax lien at these tax sale auctions held once a year by the taxing authority. Depending upon your operating jurisdiction, there may be several types of auction bidding. Sometimes, not all Tax Liens are sold at the auction. This could be because of either a lack of bidding or because there were no acceptable bids. In this type of scenario, the Tax Lien can be purchased over the counter at a later date.

Invest in Tax Lien Certificates and Tax Deeds Tax Free

Did you know that you could use money from a self-directed IRA account to invest in tax lien certificates or tax deeds? I’ve interviewed retirement account specialists from two different self-directed IRA companies; EntrustCAMA and Equity Trust Company, and I’ve learned that it is possible to invest tax free in tax lien certificates and tax deeds with a self-directed IRA.

If you use money from a regular self-directed IRA account to invest in tax lien certificates or tax deeds, than your money grows tax free until you withdraw from your account after retirement. But, if you use money from a Roth self-directed IRA, and you do not take any withdrawals until retirement age – you do not pay any taxes on your profits! So if you are using tax lien or tax deed investing as a way to save for your retirement, you need to look into this.