PDA

View Full Version : In my research i've come across .... Tax Lien Certificates

Nemesis
07-02-2004, 11:29 PM
Tax Lien Certificates... what do YOU know about them? They have unusually high ROI it seems. Secured by real estate, if the person doesn't pay the taxes you get to forclose on the real estate it seems. Anyway they seem like a good investment for all these people saying "i have 20k what should i do with it." These rates are 10-20% return/year. Anyway just curious what the downside is?
Ray Zee
07-03-2004, 02:19 AM
they can be great. but you still must do alot of leg work or may get burned. the ones you may get will be the ones the more experienced investors that specialize in them turn down. plus you usually dont get the return for long before you have to start the process all over again.
find something you are really interested in and learn more about it than your competition. and be sure that is the case. then go out and make some money rather than looking at all the seemingly easy routes that really arent.
Nemesis
07-03-2004, 12:22 PM
hehe i know, i'm bouncing all over the place. They were just one of the things that i was curious about when i read about them. Thanks for the info Zee, you've been invaluable.
GeorgeF
07-03-2004, 02:50 PM
I suggest anyone interested in these things vist their county court house (or web site) and talk to the people there. They are the only authoritative source for information.

Attend and auction and see if anything is going on. You will find most tax leins are purchased by mortgage holders to protect their mortgages. You may also find that you will have to bid more than the value the taxes for a property you have a chance of getting.

These are public, advertized and usually well attended auctions. In other words you will usually find little value at them. Sometimes you may end up with something interesting, so dream on. If you are really interested find a local lawyer that handles these things and discuss it with them.

Foreclosure autions may be interesting in the future if there is a collapse in real estate prices and you have the cash and time to take over substandard properties.