Tax Lien Investing - Doing Your Tax Sale Research at the County Level

In tax lien certificate investing, there are many different strategies an investor can take. And so many factors come into play. Are you only going to research and invest in local counties,or will you invest in multiple areas and states? Do you plan on traveling to tax sales, or are you looking for counties and municipalities that offer first-run or struck property tax lien certificates online or by mail? How much time per week do you plan on dedicating to tax lien investing? What is your budget or amount of available funds?

Once you answer the questions above, you'll have a better idea of the states and counties you'll want to invest in. Once you target your states and counties, you'll want to address the following questions:

• When are property taxes due, and when do they become delinquent? In most states, property taxes are due once or twice a year. Unpaid property taxes become delinquent a few months later. Once property taxes are delinquent, the property is subject to a tax lien. It is important to know the "delinquent" dates for your state for at least two reasons: first, a tax lien sale usually follows shortly after the delinquent date; second, counties will compile a list of delinquent properties and make these available to the public. Some of these lists are offered for free online. Other counties require investors to submit a written request and charge a small fee for the list. Still other counties only submit their list to a local newspaper for publication three or four weeks before the tax lien sale.
• When are the sale(s)? Most counties hold only one tax lien sale per year and they occur about the same date every year. Some larger counties will hold sales more often. It is also important to know if the county will run the sale for more than one day.
• Are sales in person, or is there an online auction? Most tax lien sales require that the investor attends in person. Several Florida and Arizona counties offer online tax sales, including Maricopa County in the Phoenix area.
• Is assignment purchase (over-the-counter) OTC sales available? In many counties across the U.S., tax lien certificates that don't sell at the initial or subsequent tax sales become available for assignment or over-the-counter purchase.
• Can you buy OTC liens online? Many counties offer investors the opportunity to buy OTC liens online.
• Can you buy OTC liens with credit? Many counties are looking to unload their struck property inventory as soon as possible, and offering a credit option may speed up this process since not every investor has enough capital.
• How long is the redemption period? The redemption period starts the day that the tax lien is first up for sale. From this date, the current property owner has a certain amount of time to redeem the tax lien before the property becomes vulnerable to the foreclosure process.
• Does the current owner of the tax lien certificate have first rights to subsequent property taxes? In most states and counties, the current tax lien certificate holder has first rights to all subsequent property taxes until the property owner redeems the tax lien certificate.
• Does the county want/need to be actively involved in foreclosure process? In most counties, the tax lien certificate holder is responsible for starting the foreclosure process after the redemption period expires, but there are exceptions.
• What do I need to know about the foreclosure process? Things to consider are the length of the process, what kind of deed is awarded after a successful foreclosure, and what are obstructions (if any) between getting a clean title and title insurance.

In summary, first you need to decide your target state(s) and counties. Once this is determined, you need to do thorough research on each state and county, using the questions above as your model. You can find out a lot of this information online. Just input the county, state and "property tax". More often than not, you will be pointed to either the County Treasurer, County Assessor, or Tax Collector section of the county Web site. The more information you have about a county, the more empowered you will feel.

Are you looking for a better way to invest your money in 2009 and beyond? Or maybe you are just looking to make a little (or a lot) of extra money on the side? Then, you owe it to yourself to find out more about tax lien and tax deed investing.
If you've heard about what a great investment tax liens and tax deeds are, but you just haven't done anything about it because you don't know where to begin, click the following link to hear and let me introduce you to the exciting world of Tax Lien Investing http://bit.ly/14x4th9.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Russell_Hall

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1950950