Tax Lien Properties

[CH313]

I have briefly looked into purchasing Tax Lien properties but don't know much about it. Is anyone out there doing this? What are the pros, cons and expenses?

 

[Melos]

I have briefly looked into this as well, but more to an end of actually owning a home for less than market value. To the best of my understand, its pretty much like buying any other home - you still need a mortage (or a big bunch of cash!) and still have to pay fees etc.

 

[wondering]

The congs, depending on how you look at it, are doing the research to find the properties. They are not necessarily posted, you have to go down and look through your cities records. The benefit is, you can get a steal for a great property.

 

[Melos]

That is true wondering... You can find a lot of foreclosure listings online, but you have to pay for them and you always wonder if you are getting the most up to date information. Most of the tax lien homes or foreclosures in my area are in the heart of a city - NOT where I want to live!

 

[hemisync]

I'd be quite interested to hearing from people who have purchased a home on a tax lien. I've heard you can get incredible deals. But really have to do your homework it's not as easy as the infomercials make them sound

 

[Melos]

On those informercials, it always sounds like the people find out properties that are about to be foreclosed upon and then swoop in and actually offer the homeowners to buy the house first.

It sounds like a complex way to make money to me.

 

[hemisync]

The infomercials make it sound too easy - I watched one the other night where most claims were 50-60,000 homes were being snapped up for 2-500, or 200,000 homes for 5,000 whatever the price it just seemed outlandish and laughable. Especially since most of the testimonies were from people who had never done this kind of work before.

In the real world it's quite complex even if just buying a home for yourself. You can save quite a lot of money though there are factors, from investigating the property, down to the owners living there now. They could very well peacefully leave, however after you buy you could get some vindictive owners that could cause trouble.

 

[matchbox20fan3]

I have a friend that does that, and he is making really good profit off of it. He is just buying them and flipping them and selling for profit.

 

[Penguin]

I'm sure it isn't as easy as it sounds. In order to sell for a decent price, one would have to put some money into it to fix things, etc. Therefore, it falls back on the old adage, "It takes money to make money."

 

[mamab]

I'm sure it isn't as easy as it sounds. In order to sell for a decent price, one would have to put some money into it to fix things, etc. Therefore, it falls back on the old adage, "It takes money to make money."

I agree, Penguin. The shows on tv make it look fairly easy, but there's always something that could go wrong and you might be looking at spending a lot more money than you could ever get back. It is an interesting concept though, if you have the money to start with.