Real Estate For Pennies On The Dollar PDF

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Real Estate For

Pennies On The
Dollar
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By Steve Maletos
Copyright 2002 by Steve Maletos. All rights reserved.

This publication may not be reproduced in any form without the express, written
permission of the copyright owner.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome! ............................................................................................... 1
Section 1: Property Tax Basics ............................................................ 4
Section 2: A Tax Lien Opportunity..................................................... 6
Section 3: Common Reasons for a Tax Sale Opportunity ................ 8
What Did We Learn Here? .................................................................. 15
BOOK ONE: Your Tax Profit Encyclopedia
Chapter One: Basic Terms................................................................... 2

Chapter Two: The Tax Sale Report Card.......................................... 14
Section 1: Public Oral Bid Foreclosure or Deed Tax Sale....... 16
Section 2: Public Oral Bid Auction Tax Sale ............................ 25
Section 3: Public Oral Bid Tax Certificate Sale ....................... 31
Section 4: Buying Tax Certificates Direct ................................. 47
Chapter Three: The Recap .................................................................. 57

So Now What? ....................................................................................... 64
BOOK TWO: Making Your New Knowledge Pay Off
Chapter One: The Dream Sale ............................................................ 2

Chapter Two: The Point Property ................................................... 6
Chapter Three: The Procedure ........................................................... 9
Chapter Four: The Procedure Some No Nos .................................. 19
Chapter Five: The Procedure Rule of the Pan................................ 27
Chapter Six: The Payoff....................................................................... 33
Secret 1: Rural Sales ........................................................................ 34
Secret 2: Tax Certificates in Low Interest States.......................... 35
Secret 3: Locating Less Likely Tax Certificates............................ 36
Secret 4: Friendly Local Contacts .................................................. 44
Chapter Seven: A Brief Summary ...................................................... 46
CONCLUSION: Quick Reference & Final Thoughts
Section One: Quick-Reference Guide The Basics........................... 2

Section Two: Quick-Reference Guide How To ............................... 9
Section Three: Quick-Reference Guide Steves Secrets................. 24
Section Four: The Final Word............................................................. 27
YOUR TOOLKIT: The Tools You Need To Get
Going
Insider Tax Lien Links ......................................................................... 2

State by State Contact Information .................................................... 11
Section 1: Public Oral Bid Foreclosure States .............................. 13
Section 2: Public Oral Bid Auction States .................................... 25
Section 3: Public Oral Bid Tax Certificate States ........................ 29
Section 4: Buying Direct Tax Sale States ...................................... 48
Section 5: All Other States ............................................................. 49
Tax Certificate States Chart ............................................................... 57
Sample Contact Letters ........................................................................ 60
Sample Tax Certificate(s)..................................................................... 65
WELCOME
To Real Estate For Pennies On The Dollar, the worlds most
straightforward, plain talking, step-by-step program designed to help you
make money in real estate. There are other complicated programs and
systems out there, but none of them lay out what you need to know, and
then exactly what to do with that knowledge to turn it into profit. I wanted
to tell you my insider secrets in a way that anyone can understand, so I
came up with this approach.
Because you purchased my program, Im willing to bet that you are right
where I was:
Hearing about all those people making millions in real estate, but
having no idea how to get started (after all, they must be experts at
investing or something, right?)
Wishing I had a way to make serious money without huge risks, or

taking years of college classes, or special training
Wanting a better life that wasnt the daily grind of living paycheck
to paycheck, embarrassed that I cant afford to go out for dinner with
my friends or that my car is a piece of junk
Thats whats so amazing about the opportunities that real estate and
more specifically, the tax sale part of real estate investments can
deliver.
You DONT have to be a trained expert. You DONT have to take reckless
risks. And you DONT have to be satisfied with your current income and
lifestyle!
Im just a regular guy like you, and I turned my professional and personal
life around using the ideas that Im about to share with youso you know
it works! And like I said, I cut through all the noise thats out there to bring
you exactly what you need to know to succeed. No more, no less.
Listen, you can find tax law listings all over the Internetand thats what
some people sell as a get-rich-quick real estate program! But Im going to
tell you how to act on whats just waiting out there for you. Here in Real
Estate For Pennies On The Dollar, I use examples of real-world
situations so you can really see how things can come together to your
advantage.
So lets get you started down this exciting new road

SECTION 1
Property Tax Basics
First, you need to know a little bit about how your new opportunity in real
estate arises in the first place.
Way back when, when creating counties and towns, local governments
needed a way to raise money for common services, such public schools,
police and firemen, etc. They figured that the local landowners should be
taxed based on the value of their properties, figuring those who could
afford the more valuable land could probably afford to pay relatively
higher taxes.
BUT WAIT! Although today thats true much of the time, there are
situations when that may not be true at all
One of the key things to keep in mind here is that land is appraised these
days at whats called its highest and best use which means not what the
land is worth to the current owner, but what it could be used forsuch as a
shopping mall or more lucrative undertaking. Farmland is not worth nearly
as much as a housing development for instance, especially as the
population of the world expands and more and more people need a place to
live. Its those discrepancies in value that can run landowners into a
problem.
EXAMPLE:
A nice little family has owned an old farm on what was the
edge of town for 50 years, but the town has expanded over
time and now the farm is surrounded by shopping malls. The
property taxes (based on the constantly increasing appraised
value) have been going up at a rate thats more than the family
has been able to afford. So now the county is owed back
property taxes on that land, and if they arent paid, the
property will be headed toward foreclosure.
Now, what happens to that family that cant pay the taxes on
the property? The local government has the legal right to
collect those taxes in any way they can. This generally means
that the local government sells the land through a tax sale
(this will be discussed in more depth later). The situation is
pretty simple the family can either pay the tax lien thats due
on their farm, or give up the rights to that land and risk losing
it during the tax sale process (either to the government, or to a
tax lien investor).
As you read on in this book, youll learn that by putting yourself between
the landowner and the government agency that holds the tax lien, you will
be exactly where you need to be to potentially turn a big profit. But here I
wanted to give you the short version of property tax basics so you start to
understand how your opportunities will arise.
SECTION 2
A Tax Lien Opportunity A Quick Overview
Now let me give you a short version of the logistics of a tax lien
opportunity, and where your role can be:
A Tax Lien Opportunity
1. You find a property that has back taxes owed on it
2. You purchase (for a tiny fraction of the value of the property) the tax lien
from the government agency that owns it because they dont want to deal
with waiting around to collect their money
3. Now one of two things will happen:
A. the owner defaults on the taxes and the property is in foreclosure,

which means the property is now owned byYOU!
- You can turn around and sell it for way less than market value
and turn a nice fat profit, or potentially sell it at or above market
and really cash in!
B. OR, the owner pays the taxes owed, plus interest, toYOU!
- Now youve made money (the interest) on your investment,
usually at a significantly better rate than if you put the same
amount in the stock market or with any other supposedly money-
making investment!
You can take control of a property and make money EITHER WAY! The
investment is secured by the property, so its solid as a rock.
Now see why tax liens are such a great opportunity???

SECTION 3
Common Reasons That A Tax Sale Opportunity

Becomes An Opportunity For You
I showed you one example of how a tax sale event may arise. But for you
to really take advantage of these situations, you need to know why these
sales happen. And at the same time, its obvious that most landowners
wouldnt lose their highly valuable property for a few hundred dollars in
back taxes. Wouldnt anyone see that they could sell their land to cover at
least that themselves, or find any number of other ways of just plain losing
their entire property to the county government?
Yes, but there are more reasons that you might think:
DEATH
Suppose an elderly owner passes away, with no heirs or relatives. The

property just sits there, accruing back taxes, until the government puts it up
for a tax sale.
NO LEGAL OWNER
Here, the elderly owner who passes away may have some relatives out
there, but maybe they died suddenly, and never having specified a new
owner to take over the legal ownership. Its really up to the owner to make
sure that the local governments are up to speed on who really owns the
property, so if they fail at maintaining the piece of information, the
property can fall into a tax sale situation.
INCAPACITY
Sometimes a property owner might contract a serious physical or mental

illness, and when the property taxes are not taken care of by someone else,
they may have to be collected by the government through a tax sale.
TAXPAYER ERRORS
This is one of the least pleasant situations, but also one of the most
common, particularly in the case of elderly couples. Say Mr. Jones has
been in charge of all the bill paying, and he dies, leaving Mrs. Jones to fend
for herself. She may not realize that there are taxes due on their property, or
just plain forget to pay the bills. Or maybe she simply moves to a
retirement home, forgetting to keep up to date on the taxes (this happens
most often when the house is owned free and clear). No payment on
property taxes means a tax sale event. This isnt something one hopes for,
but it happens a lot more than it should.
BANKRUPTCIES
More often than not, opportunities for real estate tax sale investors that
happen because of bankruptcies involve corporate ownership of some sort.
A company might own a parcel of land, but dissolve without closing out all
their assets, leaving the property in question without fully-paid taxes. Not
many successful businesses will forget about truly valuable properties, but
as you probably know, there are often business deals done under the table
or without all the partners knowledge, and those can be a terrific
opportunity for the investor.
JUST PLAIN FORGOTTEN
This category would probably be the one that most tax sale investors like
yourself hope to find. Its the situation where the purchaser has moved, or
has changed his lifestyle, or divorced, or something to where he just plain
forgot about the property. Theres nothing like a mid-life crisis to distract
people from paying their bills. Or maybe the property has been handed
down so many generations that its value, and even very existence, is
forgottenout of sight, out of mind.
FORCED TO FORGET
So you bought a piece of property for a hunting club for your buddies. The
perfect hideout for just the boys. Maybe before you can figure out how to
tell your wife, your marriage gets a little strained and you realize the
hunting club idea is going to be the last straw. You just wish everything,
including the property, would disappear. Or, they might have purchased a
piece of land as a surprise for their spouse to build a dream vacation home,
but suddenly find themselves getting divorced and now have to let the
property disappear or lose it in the nasty negotiations. Well, if you dont
pay the taxes due, it will likely be sold by the government or a savvy tax
sale investor.
MISTAKEN PAYMENTS
This is when the landowner is trying to do the right thing by paying their
taxes, but somehow sends payment to the wrong tax authority. Maybe the
owner sends payment to the IRS instead of the right local agency, but is
credited by the IRS against their personal taxes due to confusion. Imagine
if this happens for 20 years (and the landowner doesnt even wonder why
his personal taxes are so low all the time). The owner thought they were
paying one kind of tax, the government another, and the landowner finds
himself in a tax sale situation. Or suppose the owner thought his accountant
was covering his taxes, but the accountant was thrown in jail years before
and hasnt paid a dime. Again, it would be unusual for a mistaken payment
to result in a lost property, but there have been cases where exactly that has
happened.
MISTAKES BY THE TAX AUTHORITIES
Yes, local governments have been known to make paperwork errorsnot

too hard to believe! They might accidentally misfile payments or related
information to a property, resulting in a tax sale event. Its somewhat
unusual for this to go all the way to the point where the property is lost by
the original owner, but in combination with a forgotten property or one less
important to the owner, it can and does happen on occasion.
WRONG ADDRESS
As a landowner, this is good motivation for making sure the post office
knows your current mailing address. It might be as simple as forgetting to
pay the property taxes because you forgot to have the bills forwarded to
your new home in Eastern Peru. After awhile, your property goes up for
sale and you dont even know about the proceedings. Yes, the government
is legally bound to work hard to find you before they foreclose on your
property, but nonetheless this can and does happen.
TAX DODGERS
As we all know, there are those who protest the governments right to tax
them to begin with. Maybe they inherited a huge house in a beautiful part
of town, but dont think they should pay any kind of taxes and are
eventually arrested for income tax delinquency. Chances are good the
property taxes are delinquent too, so that nice house is now up for grabs.
A WORD OF CAUTION
Dont forget things that are too good to be true sometimes are. The
question of why someone didnt pay their property taxes does make a
difference, and will stand up in court. The simple situation of mis-
addressed payments is not going to force someone out of their home if they
can prove in court that they had good faith in trying to make payments.
Yes, all of the causes I described above can result in a tax sale event, but
the right combinations need to come together or you as the real estate
investor wont see the profits you expected.
Later in this book Ill tell you about more things to be cautious about, and
really the key to success here is doing all the necessary due diligence.
Theres just no shortcut to doing your homework and making sure that
youre not getting greedy and ignoring facts.
WHAT DID WE LEARN HERE?
So, what weve learned here is a little history of the property tax policies
that this country employs, and how those policies can sometimes result in a
tax sale event. Its important to understand these things so you can take full
advantage of the opportunities as they arise.
In Book One, youre going to learn some of the basic terminology that
youll need to know as a successful real estate investor
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-BOOK ONE-
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YOUR
TAX PROFIT
ENCYCLOPEDIA!
A Plain English Guide to Amazing Real Estate Profits
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The first step to making outrageous profits for pennies on the dollar is
knowing the lingo. Tax lawyers and real estate wonks have created a
private maze of confusing terms and ten-dollar verbiage to keep money-
making opportunities out of the hands of normal folks like you and me.
So Ive put together a small survival kit - everything you need to know
about the real estate tax world in plain English
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CHAPTER 1:
THE BASIC TERMS
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Other courses pretending to offer a straight-talking take on real estate tax

matters often leave you feeling like a traveler in an open-air market in the
depths of a foreign country without even a basic understanding of the
language. Deals are going on all around you, and these people are certainly
excited and talking about something!
Unfortunately, theres no English in your dictionary it claims to be a

guide, but its written in a language impossible to understand. You dont
even know how to ask the guy in the kiosk over there for a guava, let alone
find out from him what the assessed value of his property is according to
the county assessor!
Never fear. This course is written in plain English for plain speakers.
Before we even go into all of the tax stuff, heres a down and dirty
explanation of a few terms that will be important later on down the road
that ends in the land of huge profits.
LIEN
A lien is just a fancy way of saying, you owe me money, and you havent
paid me, so I am placing a claim on your property. A tax lien is just one
type of lien, usually placed on a piece of property by the state or local
government after nonpayment of property taxes.
The IRS can place a lien on your assets if you dont pay your income taxes.
A contractor can place a mechanics lien on your property if he or she
does some work on the premises (for example installing a new shower in
the guestroom downstairs), and then is not paid. If any of these liens
persist in being not paid, whoever (local government, Federal government,
shower guy) placed the lien on the property will eventually HAVE
CONTROL OVER THE PROPERTY TO DISPOSE OF AS THEY WISH.
Now, the shower guy might want your house, but the local government has
better things to do with its time. Usually, they just want the value of the
property taxes owed on the property. And thats where we come in. The
local government still isnt going to get their property taxes from owning a
real property, so it will possibly choose selling its claim on the property to
some savvy investor.
Heres the thing, though: the local government still only wants its property
taxes, so its possible theyll start the bidding for the real property at the
amount of the taxes, which could only two or three percent of the value of
the property! This conceivably gives you the opportunity to grab a
$100,000 home for only $3,000! Thats a good days work, I think youll
agree.
EXAMPLE:
Remember the old family farm from the introduction? Lets
say its somewhere in Ohio outside Cincinnati. The farm had
been in the family for generations, and had been modestly
successful successful enough to keep the house in good
repair and to buy a new tractor. However, over the past few
years, other farmers in the area sold out to shopping malls, and
the assessed land value in the area skyrocketed.
Now young Mr. and Mrs. Tarlow, who own the farm, dont
have to drive twenty miles into town to rent a movie!
Unfortunately, the value of their farm is no longer being
assessed as farmland. Since the surrounding parcels are malls
and condominiums, the county appraises the Jones farm as if
it were being used for malls and condominiums!
This system, called highest and best use, is excellent for the
Joneses if they want to sell their land and move to a new
condo in Cincy, but they decide to continue to work the farm.
But, over the years, they cant pay the ballooning property
taxes on the place, so the local government, which has the
legal right to collect those taxes in any way they can, places a
lien on the property in the amount of those back taxes.
So, due to the fact that the farm owners havent yet paid their
back taxes, the local government now has a completely
legitimate claim over their property, and can dispose of that
claim in any way they see fit. That disposal will probably take
the form of a tax sale!
FORECLOSURE
I go into everything you might want to know about all sorts of foreclosures
in my companion volume, Fast Cash in Foreclosures [LINK TO SITE],
but at its heart a foreclosure is a turning point, and an opportunity. Most
folks dont have $100,000 lying around to spend on a property. So, they go
to a bank or other investor for a loan, which is secured by a mortgage on
the property. The mortgage is paid back in installments, with interest,
which is the reason the investor in interested in giving the loan in the first
place.
However, if for some reason, the party paying on the mortgage is no longer
able to live up to their responsibilities, the investor can foreclose on the
property. Similarly, some local or state governments will foreclose on a
property for nonpayment of delinquent property taxes. If a government or
bank or investor forecloses on a property, it takes control of the propertys
destiny, and can then proceed to do whatever it wants with the house or
parcel of land.
For example, possibly sell it AT A GIGANTICALLY REDUCED RATE

at a tax sale, which is an opportunity for you or me to make huge profits for
pennies on the dollar! Heres another example:
EXAMPLE:
Ted Furlow, a district attorney in Kansas, buys a piece of
property out at the lake to build a summer cabin. Before he
builds, however, Ted has a moment of clarity, decides to join
the Peace Corps, and travels to Africa, where he passes away
in a freak rhino accident. A young man, he left the country
without preparing a comprehensive will, and the piece of
property he bought for the cabin lies unclaimed, as his
relatives dont even know it exists.
Over the years, the government doesnt receive any payments
for property taxes, and eventually forecloses on the property.
The state then sells the property at a tax sale, where the
opening bid will be, basically, the back real estate taxes an
opportunity to make a huge profit!
TAX SALE
A tax sale is generally a public event where investors buy, depending on
the state, tax deeds essentially deeds to real property or tax
certificates essentially pieces of paper that represent the tax lien, or debt,
a property owner owes in delinquent real property taxes.
Whatever the type of tax sale, it offers you the opportunity to make
FANTASTIC PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO
RISK! Generally, a tax sale for a county is held once a year. Some states
require all their counties to hold their sales on the same date.
EXAMPLE:
Every year in February you fly down to Sedona, Arizona to
attend the local tax certificate sale, as the state requires each
county in Arizona to hold its tax sales in February. By the
way, you also write off this sunny trip in the winter each year.
Doing business at a tax sale is, of course, tax deductible. You
always get there early to research the properties in question,
and to get in a few extra rounds of golf!
At the tax sale itself, you bid on certificates for likely
properties you have located, purchasing some, and giving
yourself the chance to make fantastic profits for a tiny
investment at little or no risk!
EQUITY
I can easily define equity as the difference between the sales price of a
property you are buying and any debts (for example, a mortgage) you owe
on it. People refer to equity variously in either relation to dollars: $20,000
equity in that parcel of land, or as a percentage: 20% equity in that parcel
of land. Tax deed sales and tax certificate sale can sometimes offer
amazing opportunities for acquiring HUGE equity stakes for TINY initial
investments.
EXAMPLE:
Rhonda Wayans and Lars Mushkin are in love in Washington,
D.C. Theyre going to get married next year, but cant wait
that long to live together and Rhondas landlord is selling the
Craftsman house that she rents. They both love the house, and
after some serious soul-searching (and checking account
searching) they decide to buy the place.
They put down $30,000 cobbled together from his inheritance
and her internet stocks, and they take out a mortgage for the
other $70,000 of the $100,000 house. They now have 30%
($30,000 divided by $100,000) equity in the house.
But love is fleetingRhonda spends fourteen hours a day on
the net, and Lars has this incredibly loud and annoying laugh.
To make a long story short, they decide NOT to get married,
and cant figure out what to do with the house. Theyre not
able to sell it, Lars disappears and Rhonda rents out the place
to somebody else. The money from the rent just covers the
mortgage, so Rhonda sets up an automatic payment to the
bank, and then leaves the material world, joining a Buddhist
monastery in Tibet.
The mortgage is paid, but, oops! the property taxes arent.
The state government cant find Rhonda or Lars, and they
eventually place a lien on the property.
You are at the next annual District of Columbia tax certificate
sale, and you swoop in to purchase a claim to this $100,000
Craftsman for the price of the unpaid property taxes, a mere
$5,000. If Rhonda and Lars dont show up soon to pay you
back at a significant interest rate, you now have 95% EQUITY
in the house! Nice going.
RIGHT OF REDEMPTION
To redeem something is to buy it back. In plain and simple language, if
you buy a used car from me, and then I realized it would be a great gift for
a relative, its possible you might let me buy it back, or redeem it. You
might or you might not. Its your choice. In the world of real estate tax
law, theres a term floating around called a right of redemption. In some
states, after you buy a tax lien, the previous owner has a period of time,
established by state law, when they can buy back the lien to the property
from you, for the price you paid for it, plus quite a bit extra!
EXAMPLE:
In Baltimore, Crabcorp went bankrupt. This company running
an excellent restaurant had dreams of expansion, but had a run
of really bad luck, and went under.
All of their assets were dealt with, but interestingly, one of the
partners, Danny Torp, had bought a piece of property down by
the water with the companys money, intending to create
another, fast food version of Crabcorp. He never told his
partners about it, and when the company went bankrupt, the
property taxes went delinquent over time, as nobody knew
about the property. Its a beautiful stretch of land, and you
end up getting possession of it at a tax sale.
However, the partners of the newly rejuvenated Crabcorp find
out that their ex-partner, Danny Torp, had purchased this
amazing property, and they decide to exercise their right of
redemption (in Maryland they have between 2 and 6 months)
to buy back their property.
So, that means they owe you the price of the tax lien, PLUS
24% INTEREST! So you dont get the property, but you do
get an absolutely astonishing return on your investment!
DUE DILIGENCE
There are a huge amount of good opportunities out there in the world of tax
liens, but I can help you find the great ones! But I wont lie to you. The
difference between making an okay living and a dream life of huge profits
is essentially some solid research, or what the lawyers call doing your due
diligence.
Essentially what I mean when I use this term is doing your homework, or
eating your vegetables. Having a good meal when you were thirteen was
about that amazing hamburger, but your mom made you eat the spinach,
too, because it was good for you. If you take just a little bit of time to sort
the good properties from the bad, youre on your way to huge profits at
little or no risk!
Dictionaries define it as the care that a reasonable person exercises under

the circumstances to avoid harm to other persons or their property. I
define it as knowing your area, knowing the local customs, and figuring out
the properties youre interested in ahead of time. Well go into further
detail in the next chapter.
EXAMPLE:
You go to a tax sale in Oklahoma, and two properties are up
on the block. Theyre one street apart from each other, and
each assessed at $50,000, and you can buy the lien to either
for around $2,000. So whats the problem! Why not buy both
liens, right?
Wrong. Since you drove by the sites and did your due
diligence, you know that one property, 38 West 1st Street, is
an excellent choice. The other property, 38 West 2nd Street, is
an abandoned lot that residents have decorated with
abandoned cars, appliances, and gasoline or heating oil or
other toxic elements you can only begin to imagine. Besides
paying someone to remove all that stuff from the property,
youre also dealing with a possible environmental clean-up
problem!
So what do you do? You buy the tax lien for the 1st Street
property, and let some other person who didnt do their
homework deal with the problems of 2nd Street!
____________________
CHAPTER 2:
THE TAX SALE REPORT CARD
____________________
The terms you just learned are pretty straightforward, huh? But whats the
difference between those examples above in Ohio, Kansas and D.C.? How
do you know the difference between a public oral bid foreclosure auction
and a public oral bid auction with right of redemption? There seems like so
much to figure out!
After sorting through the mumbo-jumbo, there are FOUR categories that
pretty much cover all the tax sales you might encounter. Ive summed each
of them up in an uncomplicated way with numerous examples, pros and
cons, AND Ive rated each of the categories with a letter grade!
All tax sales are not created equal, and this guide will help you find the
truly fantastic bargains out there, as opposed to just the good ones.
Just read each section for a description of the different sales as well as real-
world examples
SECTION 1
Public Oral Bid

Foreclosure Auction
or Deed Tax Sale
Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, New
York (in some cases), North Carolina, Ohio (in some cases), Pennsylvania,
Utah, Virginia and Washington.
In states that use this particular system, after the local government places a
tax lien on delinquent real property taxes (were using our lingo now), the
lien is foreclosed, and the local government actually sells title to the
property at a tax sale.
In other words, the owner didnt pay their property taxes, so the
government took the property so it can acquire the money owed in back
taxes by selling the property.
Every year, a county in one of these states will usually hold its own public
oral bid foreclosure auction sale.
Thats a lot of language for a pretty simple thing, if you break it down:
Public
Everyone who wants to come is invited. Wow! Thats a lot of people,
right? Not necessarily. Depending on how well the county advertises the
sale, its very possible that just a few people or YOU ALONE might be
present!
Oral
Everyone present bids on a specific property until no one tops the final bid.
The process takes place out loud.
Bid
If you offer one price, someone else at the auction has the chance to better
your offer. This is why sparsely attended tax sales are so great. The fewer
the people, the smaller the competition, the greater the reward!
Foreclosure
The properties on sale will be property with a tax lien foreclosed upon a
certain period before the date of the sale.
Auction Sale
The local government is actually selling valuable properties at rates starting
in many states at the cost of the delinquent taxes and fees alone!
Needless to say, this type of tax deed sale provides you, the well-informed
and savvy investor, tremendous profit opportunities!
Some things to expect at a typical foreclosure auction tax sale:
Low Opening Bid:
The opening bid at one of these sales is usually only the prorated
cost of the conducting the sale (i.e., staff time, paperwork, etc.), the
back delinquent taxes, any other costs connected to those taxes.
Small change compared to the value of some of these properties.
First Lien:
Property tax liens, under many state laws, are called the first lien.
Real property taxes are generally considered senior to any other lien
placed on a property, from a lender lien like a mortgage, to a federal
tax lien, to the mechanics lien that shower guy placed on the
property for the work he did in the downstairs bathroom.
Its important to note, by the way, that all state tax laws are not
created equal, and, as the smart investor you are, you should check
on the seniority (or priority) of property tax liens as part of your
research before you buy. Know local real estate law before making
any permanent commitments!
Great Equity Opportunities:
If the state regards a property tax lien as the first lien, as illustrated
above, that means that its the heavyweight of the field, and it has
priority. Imagine that all of the liens against a house (property tax,
mortgage, judgment liens from a court) live inside the house. But
Big Lou the Property Tax Lien, is the first lien, the priority, and the
county forecloses on him.
If an investor buys Big Lou the Tax Lien, not only does the investor
get the house, but ALL OF THE OTHER LIENS are thrown out of
the house. All of those secondary liens, even a mortgage from a
lender, are discharged and no longer viable.
If all the other liens are off the board that means you just purchased a
$50,000 property for the price of a year or twos delinquent taxes
and fees, typically under 5% of the value of the property. So,
conceivably, YOU PAID UNDER $2,500 FOR 95% EQUITY ON
THE PROPERTY!
EXAMPLE:
Youre at an annual tax deed foreclosure sale in a county in
Nevada, called in that state a trustee sale. Youve done your
due diligence, and you know that Nevada thinks of property
tax liens as essentially first liens. The state gives them
priority over all mortgages, deeds of trust, judgment liens,
shower guy liens or any other lien you can think of, creating
the opportunity of acquiring a property free and clear of any
other debts it may have gathered over time.
One of the properties up for auction is a sweet little bungalow
in Las Vegas once owned by Fish-Eyes Cantini, a minor
functionary of the Cantini crime family who disappeared
under mysterious circumstances a few years ago. Its a
beautiful little place, lovely spot, a real vacation hideaway,
assessed at about $120,000.
In any case, the property taxes havent been paid. Two years
ago the county tax receiver, according to state law, published a
notice once a week for four consecutive weeks in the
newspaper stating all of Cantinis vital statistics, a description
of the property on which the taxes are a lien, and the amount
due plus penalties and costs. Nobody showed up to pay that
amount, Cantini being, as previously mentioned, mysteriously
missing.
The tax receiver now issues to the county treasurer a
certificate telling the treasurer to hold the property for two
years, just in case Cantini reappears and wants to pay the back
taxes and costs, getting his property back. Nobody shows.
Fish-Eyes is obviously sleeping with the fishes. Two years
later, the period allowed for Cantini to redeem of the property
has expired, so the tax receiver executes a deed to the property
to the treasurer, who then is directed to sell the bungalow.
So, the sale is posted in three different public places in the
county. The required twenty days after that, no one with any
legal connection to the bungalow has come forward to redeem
the property, and the sale commences. You now know that
under Nevada law, nobody previously connected with the
property can redeem it after the sale!
This is where you come in. Youve done your due diligence,
identified this property as a hot prospect, and you go to the
sale. One other person is there, Not-So-Smart Jimmy, who
you sometimes see at tax sales. The treasurer opens the
bidding at the AMOUNT OF TAXES, COSTS, PENALTIES
AND INTEREST from the delinquent property taxes, in this
case around $2,000!
You open the bidding at $2,000, but Not-So-Smart Jimmy
quickly responds with a bid of his own, but he hasnt done his
homework and he doesnt know what a sweet deal this is. He
eventually drops out and you pay $3,500 and leave the
treasurers office with a deed to the property!
So due to your mastery of this system, you are now the owner
of an excellent vacation house in Vegas to sell at a huge profit,
or rent to tenants for essentially free money! And how much
did you for it? The price of a moderately decent used car!
What happened in the fictitious EXAMPLE above is obviously a best-case
scenario. I want to make sure you understand that every tax deed sale you
go to will not be like this. However, if you do your homework and
familiarize yourself with local real estate rules and this straightforward
system, you are putting yourself in a position to make acquisitions and
profits very similar to this one!
PUBLIC ORAL BID FORECLOSURE AUCTION

(TAX DEED SALE)
PROS & CONS
PROS
Low Opening Bid.
Usually the cost of the back taxes, plus administrative costs and
penalties!
First Lien.
Many states consider property tax liens as priority to all other liens, wiping
out any secondary ones!
Great Equity
A first lien may mean gigantic profits and huge equity for pennies on
the dollar!
Free and Clear.
Generally, once you have the deed in your hand, its yours. No
messy contact or litigation from previous owners.
CONS
Competition
The fact that the state holds an oral bid auction (i.e., in public) means
others attending the tax sale might want the same properties youre
looking at, possibly driving up the bid.
SUMMARY
Tax Deed Sales are a great way to make giant profits on miniscule
investments at little or no risk! Seek out sales with little or no other
attendance to reduce the chance of competitor investors driving up the
price.
STEVES FINAL GRADE: A-

SECTION 2
Public Oral Bid Auction

Tax Sale
Alaska, Maine, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, plus some improved
properties in New Mexico and New York.
Be careful! Do your due diligence! These states can do things quite a bit
differently than the states above, and your ability to make fantastic profits
from tax lien sales will be squeezed!
To find out why, lets break down the language again.
Public
Ok, so its a public auction, just like we established before. Anyone who
wants to be there can be there. You know by now to try to find sales that
are less populated.
Oral
Everything is done out loud, check.
Bid
If you offer one price, someone else at the auction has the chance to better
your offer. Right, you remember this, too.
Foreclosure
NOPE! Ah ha! While the tax liens on property are foreclosed upon by the
state, the opening bid at the auction is most often NOT merely the cost of
delinquent back taxes and penalties and administrative fees on the property.
The opening bid is often A MUCH HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF THE
ASSESSED VALUE OF THE PROPERTY, LIMITING YOUR ABILITY
TO MAKE FANTASTIC PROFITS ON TAX LIENS!
So far, Ive showed you that in many states that operate tax deed
foreclosure sales, the county or other local government will place a tax lien
on a property, essentially getting title to the property through foreclosure.
Then, at a tax sale, in order to get the proceeds from the property tax owed
to it, the county sells the lien, and in effect the property, to investors. The
opening bid will most likely be the tiny percentage of the assessed property
value that is the delinquent property taxes plus administrative costs and
other penalties. As Ive shown you above, this creates an opportunity for
you to make and incredible profit for minimal risk!
ON THE OTHER HAND, some states allow their counties to set opening
bids at a much higher level than the delinquent back taxes plus costs. Its
possible you might even attend a tax sale where the opening bid is set near
the actual value of the property. This practice can severely curtail your
ability to make outrageous profits at little or no risk!
EXAMPLE:
Youre in Duluth, Minnesota to help your mother move. The
process takes a while, and you come across news that the
county is having a tax sale while youll be in town! The local
statutory review period of ninety days after the forfeiture of
the properties is ending next Tuesday, after which there will
be a sale. What luck!
You do some research and some due diligence, and youre
very excited about your prospects. Youve located a couple of
excellent properties that will be going on sale, including one
amazing house that has been abandoned for some time, but is
still in really excellent shape. Its assessed at about $200,000.
The day of the tax sale arrives, and youve prepared yourself
to bid on the properties. From your experience at other tax
sales you assume that the bidding will start at the delinquent
property taxes plus costs, a tiny fraction of the true value of
the properties. Youre prepared to bid up from that starting
point, even to around $10,000 for the lien on the amazing
house.
The county auditor opens up the bidding with the amazing
house, declaring an opening bid of $195,000! What? How
are you supposed to make amazing profits with little or no risk
at this tax sale if the bidding starts very near the actual value
of the property? Well, you did excellent homework on the
properties themselves, but you didnt look into local real estate
tax law, which provides that during the tax sale the county
auditor shall sell the various parcels of land to the highest
bidder, BUT NOT FOR A LESS SUM THAN THE
APPRAISED VALUE.
Appraised value of real property means the market value
of the property, which is essentially the going rate during a
private sale of a similar property.
You help your mom move and get out of Minnesota quickly,
off to state where they have better opportunities to make
something out of the deal.
PUBLIC ORAL BID AUCTION REPORT

(ADJUSTABLE OPENING BID)
PROS AND CONS

PROS
First Lien.
Many states consider property tax liens as priority to all other liens, wiping
out any secondary ones!
Free and Clear.

Generally, once you have the deed in your hand, its yours. No messy
contact or litigation from previous owners.
OK Equity.
A first lien can still mean big profits and great equity, as you are acquiring
the property with all other liens discharged!
CONS
Competition.
You still run the risk of competitive investors driving the price of the
property up.
Higher Opening Bid.

Not usually the cost of the back taxes, plus administrative costs and
penalties! Generally these state offer their counties the ability to set
opening bids at higher or much higher levels.
SUMMARY
Opportunities for savvy investors can still be located, but due to the
generally higher opening bid price, are less likely to secure huge profits
with little or no risk to yourself. Sales with little or no other attendance are
still your best opportunity to reduce the chance of competitor investors
driving up the price even more. Better opportunities can usually be found
elsewhere!
STEVES FINAL GRADE: C-

SECTION 3
Public Oral Bid Tax

Certificate Tax Sale
Essentially; Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,
New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Vermont, and Wyoming. California, New Hampshire, Ohio, and New York
allow tax certificate sales, but theyre not universal.
Now that Ive established which states use this particular system, let me tell
you what these things are:
Real estate experts around the country have been buying tax certificates for
years, using these little known secret gems to gain outrageous returns on
their investments. Why should they have all the fun? Its not rocket
science. Its not brain surgery. All it requires is a little research, good
judgment, and the knowledge Im teaching you right now through this
eBook!
A TAX CERTIFICATE is evidence, or a license if you want to look at it

that way, showing that the investor has purchased a tax lien. Remember
that a tax lien is a claim placed on a real estate property by a local
government due to the owner not paying delinquent taxes.
So a tax certificate is proof that you, the investor, have paid the local
government any outstanding property taxes on a specific piece of real
estate. In exchange for that payment, the property owner now has to pay
you the amount of the delinquent taxes, plus a sometimes extremely
lucrative interest rate, within a certain period established by the local
government. Essentially, you have bought what can be an incredibly high
interest loan from the local government! If you only receive the
redemption payment, youve already made an excellent profit.
Let me make one thing clear: a tax certificate is not a deed. You are not
buying the property. You are buying a debt, the opportunity to be repaid,
with an excellent rate of return, by the property owner.
Now heres the best part
If the property owner does not pay the prescribed amount by the end of a
certain period, THEY LOSE THE PROPERTY! And almost always, the
property is now OWNED BY YOU! Free and clear, with fantastic profits
for little or no risk!
There are two different ways to buy tax certificates:
1. Buying tax certificates through auction at a public oral bid tax

sale
2. Buying tax certificates direct from the local officials

Ill simply describe each technique in a step-by-step manner in the coming
pages. Always remember that county and state governments all have their
local rules and regulations, which can alter the way these tax sales work
out. Its always in your best interest to look into local rules and regulations
to discover the little details specific to each local tax system that can help
you make huge profits at little or no risk!
Ill summarize each of the systems as before, with pros and cons and a final
grade.
1. BUYING TAX CERTIFICATES AT ORAL BID TAX SALES
As weve established, the best type of tax sale to attend is the one where
youre the only investor present. That way, youre free to purchase
everything all the tax certificates youre interested in at the minimum
opening bid, generally the cost of delinquent back taxes plus penalties, and
administrative fees usually under $5,000 for a property worth $100,000!
But what happens if theres more than one investor at the sale? Maybe you
go to a sale in Arizona, excited to buy some excellent tax certificates, and
theres Not-So-Smart Jimmy, who you ran into at the tax deed sale in Las
Vegas!
If two or more investors want to buy the same tax certificate, there needs to
be some mechanism in place to decide who gets the tax certificates.
Generally, there are three types of bidding structures used by the various
states that sell tax certificates.
Bidding Down Interest.
Each state sets a maximum interest rate permitted on tax lien

certificates. Rates range anywhere from a relatively wimpy 6%
to an amazing 24% return on your investment. In some
situations, the rate of return on a certificate approaches an
astronomical 300%!
In any case, one method of bidding for a tax certificate is

bidding down the interest attached to the certificate. The
basic price for the certificate remains the back property taxes
plus any costs and fees, but bidders can competitively
decrease the interest attached to the tax certificate.
EXAMPLE
Bidding Down The Price
You and Jimmy Not-So-Smart are interested in the tax

certificate for a property in New Jersey, and you both decide
to bid on it. The maximum interest rate on a tax certificate in
New Jersey is a mouth-watering 18%, but Jimmy wants that
certificate. He decides to bid 17%. This means that if he
successfully purchases the tax certificate, and the property
owner redeems the property, Jimmy will receive a 17% return,
not an 18% return on the tax certificate.
However, you are very excited about the property, so you bid
down to 14% interest. Jimmy lets it go at that. But, having
again done your due diligence, you know something Jimmy
doesnt.
The research youve done has revealed that the propertys

owner, a nice old lady named Burgess, passed away peacefully
a number of years ago with no heirs and no one with a legal
interest in the property. You dont expect anyone will redeem
the property at all! So bidding down the interest for
repayment in this case DOESNT MATTER AT ALL! Since
no one will be redeeming the property, no one will be paying
the rate of return on the tax certificate, whether it is 50% or
2%!
In this particular case, since you know there will be no redemption of the
property, the interest rate doesnt matter. The only thing that does matter is
that when the redemption property expires, the property can be yours for
the tiny price of the delinquent back taxes! Due diligence triumphs again!
And you are in a position to receive huge profits for your relatively tiny
purchase of a tax certificate for essentially the price of some back property
taxes!
Bidding Up The Price
This bidding formula has the bidding start at the minimum price
for the certificate delinquent property taxes plus costs and
bids go higher from there. The price INCREASES as the bidding
goes on. The bidding adds to the price of the tax certificate
hundreds or even thousands of dollars!
The important thing to realize here is that not all states treat this
surplus amount the same. One state might force the property
owner to pay the surplus amount plus the interest, while another
may declare that the property owner owes only the original
amount of back taxes, and the investor has to eat the surplus. BE
CAREFUL, and make even more sure you do your research and
know the local rules before you jump into a bidding system like
this. The opportunity exists to LOSE MONEY.
EXAMPLE
At a tax sale in a tiny county seat in a mountainous part of

Colorado, you run into Not-So-Smart Jimmy again (at this
point you wonder if he has some sort of tracking device
secretly attached to you). Theres also another investor at the
certificate sale well call her Impulsive Rhonda.
You buy a couple of tax certificates that are uncontested by the other two:
its possible the certificates will not be redeemed by the property owners,
giving you the opportunity to acquire their property for a tiny fraction of its
assessed value! If the property owners do redeem their property, you still
get a magnificent return for your investment (Colorados tax certificate
interest rate fluctuates - in 1998 it was 14%!).
Not-So-Smart Jimmy and Impulsive Rhonda, however, get

into a bidding war over a ski chalet. Jimmy eventually wins
out by bidding$3,500, $2,500 over the cost of the tax
certificate, which was $1,000. Not-So-Smart Jimmy is
banking on the owner not redeeming the property, and if that
happens, he still makes an excellent profit, the deed to the
property.
However, if even a year later, the property owner redeems his

chalet from Not-So-Smart Jimmy, he or she only has to pays
Jimmy THE ORIGINAL $1,000 OF BACK PROPERTY
TAXES PLUS, AS AN EXAMPLE 14% ($140!). According
to the state laws of Colorado, Not-So-Smart Jimmy is
responsible for the surplus bid, and he now is holding a loss of
over $2,000!
Bidding Down Percentage Ownership
The bidding process in these states proceeds with the bidders

competing against each other, with the winner agreeing to
accept the SMALLEST percentage interest in the property. So
the bidding for a tax certificate starts with the property offered
as a whole, a 100% undivided ownership. A second bidder
would agree to accept less ownership, lets call it 99%
ownership. The remaining 1% is shared as something called a
tenancy-in-common with the original property owner. If the
property is redeemed, none of these percentages matter, and
you make a hefty return on your investment.
However, if the certificate, and therefore the property, is not
redeemed, the bidder DOESNT HAVE COMPLETE
OWNERSHIP OF THE PROPERTY. Its not that the bidder
owns 99% of the property area and the property owner only
owns that bush over there. Tenancy-in-common means you
cant sell the property without:
(a) the permission of the foreclosed-out owner

(someone who may not be inclined to cooperate with you);
or
(b) a drawn out legal proceeding called a
partition action
In any case, tenancy-in-common of a piece of property gained

through bidding down percentage ownership is quite a can
of worms. Be VERY LEERY of bidding down percentage
ownership at tax sales using this system.
EXAMPLE
In Iowa the rate of interest on tax certificates is a phenomenal
24%! Worth taking a look at, certainly. However, most
counties in Iowa do use the bidding down percentage
ownership system at their tax sales, so you resolve not to get
involved in any competitive bidding. Not-So-Smart Jimmy,
however, is very excited about a house down by the river, and
he bids down on that propertys certificate to 65% ownership.
If the owner redeems the property, Not-So-Smart Jimmy gets
a 24% return on his investment! However, the owner of the
house, an ornery old Iowan named Mabel Cheeseharker
convinces some of her relatives to help her out. She raises
enough money to pay the price of the certificate delinquent
property taxes plus costs and the 24% interest to boot! She
has redeemed her property, and now Not-So-Smart Jimmy is
tenant-in-common to a very nice house in Iowa occupied by a
very stubborn old Iowan, who is the other part owner.
However this turns out, it will take a long investment of more
time and money on Not-So-Smart Jimmys part to resolve it,
time and money better spent finding fantastic real estate
profits at little or no risk!
Meanwhile, you make off with a number of uncontested tax
certificates, two of which eventually are not redeemed by the
property owner, providing you with a fantastic, UNDIVIDED,
profit on your very secure investment!
PUBLIC ORAL BID TAX CERTIFICATE SALES REPORT

PROS & CONS
PROS
Huge Interest Rates.
Many states offer absolutely astonishing rates of return on tax

certificates. Many states offer double-digit interest rates on your
investment, as much as 24% in many places! This rate eclipses the
rate of return you could achieve with more mundane instruments like
IRAs or the bond market, and, with quick turnaround times on the
rates of return, your money is active, constantly being reinvested
even better returns!
Of course, attractive as it might seem, this is only the consolation
prize. The jackpot is:
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP
This is the true goal. After the period of redemption passes with no
one redeeming the property, in most states tax certificates can be
converted into UNCONTESTED ownership of the property they
were a lien on! Which means that for a tiny fraction of the value of
the property, delinquent back taxes and costs, you can secure
ownership of valuable properties!
First Lien.
It still holds true here that many state governments consider a

property tax lien the priority lien on a property, meaning that all
other outstanding debts are wiped off the board, giving you free and
clear ownership of the property.
Free and Clear.
Generally, once you have the deed in your hand, its yours. No
messy contact or litigation from previous owners.
Great Equity.
A first lien wiping out all secondary liens on the property means its
very possible to acquire HUGE equity in the property secured by the
tax lien, upwards of 95% EQUITY!
Lack of Popularity.
While purchasing tax certificates is becoming more popular, many

traditional real estate investors still wish to buy deeds to property up
front, through public oral bid auctions. They are leery of the fact
that youre purchasing a certificate, not the actual deed to the
property, and they dont like the redemption period attached to
certificates.
This is great thing for a savvy investor like you, because those
people who dont want to invest in tax certificates means less
competition! This gives you a better chance of finding sparsely
attended sales where you can swoop in and buy certificates
UNCONTESTED, allowing you to purchase what you want to
purchase at the absolute MINIMUM BID, back property taxes plus
minor costs and fees! And what do you get for that minimum bid?
The chance to acquire the property attached to the tax certificate!
CONS
Competition.
Competitive bidding can have all sorts of impact on the price of the
certificate. Bidding down interest or property ownership and bidding
up price can mess with your profits! Do your due diligence. Know
the local rules and customs BEFORE you start bidding.
Redemption Period.
The property owner does have a period of time to redeem the

property, BUT there are positive aspects to this situation. If they do
end up buying back the lien, you are entitled to a generally excellent
rate of return due to the interest rate attached to the certificate! You
and I would prefer the property, but not a bad consolation prize. All
the more reason to do your research, to try to discover certificates
less likely to be redeemed!
SUMMARY
For the savvy real estate investor, purchasing tax certificates at annual tax
sales offers opportunities for truly outrageous profits for pennies on the
dollar at little or no risk! The only wrinkle here is that less competition is
always better. Public bidding practices in various states can quickly turn
fantastic opportunity into an unattractive adventure, limiting your chances
to make huge profits on a tiny investment at little or no risk.
But if, as I know you will, you do your due diligence and keep away from
intense bidding matches, tax certificate sales offer some amazing
opportunities.
NOTE: These three bidding processes are predominant through states that
participate in selling tax certificates. A few states use other systems,
including:
Random Selection.
In much of Wyoming and certain counties in Colorado and
Idaho, local tax officials use a random selection system to
decide who gets to purchase a tax certificate, with no bidding!
What does that mean? You therefore get the opportunity to
buy a tax certificate without being subject to any bidding
down of interest or percentage ownership of the property, or
bidding up of the price. So someone will walk away with a
tax certificate to a property purchased at the minimum bid, or
back property taxes plus costs
However, that person may not be you. A random selection
system doesnt affect the yield or the security, but it does
affect your ability to purchase the tax certificate you are
interested. Just do the math. If there are 50 investors at a
particular tax sale selling 50 certificates, your chances are one
in 50 to be able to purchase ANY tax certificates! Luckily this
system is not used in a wide array of states.
First Come, First Served.

This is an excellent system for early birds! Essentially, the
first bidder to arrive at a tax sale gets the first right to
purchase or not purchase any tax certificates being sold that
day! Kentucky state law uses this system. In Montana it
effectively works out this way, due to low attendance at
annual tax sales, although in a couple of the more touristy and
vacation-destination counties, people have been known to
stand in line all day at the sale waiting to buy their certificates!
SECTION 4
Buying Tax Certificates Direct
Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Wyoming.
If the exciting bidding atmosphere of public auctions isnt your thing, or if

you prefer an EVEN MORE effective procedure for buying tax certificates,
buying tax certificates direct or over-the-counter is probably an excellent
solution for you. In my opinion this is the MOST EFFICIENT method to
achieving the final goal, attaining property at a fantastic profit for a tiny
Often tax sales can be excellent sources of opportunities to acquire the

rights to real estate properties for a minimum bid of back property taxes
and related costs, but sometimes even the most savvy real estate investor
can have the deck stacked against them at public oral bid tax sales. Other
investors bidding your profits away, or strange local customs can prevent
you from reaching the promised land of gigantic profits!
I have the perfect solution for this problem: buying tax certificates direct
from the local tax authorities!
In most tax certificate states, if no one buys a certificate at the annual tax
sale, that certificate can be purchased over-the-counter after the sale from
local tax officials at the MINIMUM OPENING BID (delinquent real estate
taxes plus costs) on a FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVED BASIS. Its like
having your own private tax certificate service!
Heres how this system works

In most states if a tax certificate is not bought at the annual tax sale, it is
sold to the state or the county. In most states, any certificate sold to the
state or the county can be purchased from the country throughout most of
the rest of the year.
This is where the terms direct and over-the-counter come from. The
purchase is direct, as it is not contested by other bidders. It is over-the-
counter because you walk into the local tax officials office and buy the
certificates (this is exaggerating a bit, but not much) like you buy coke and
chips at the local grocery store! Theres no sticker shock, as the price is
almost always fixed at the minimum opening bid of back property taxes
and fees.
Theres also nobody grabbing at that last bag of Cheetos or that tax
certificate that you really want, because sales are generally performed on a
first come, first-serve basis. If youre at the counter, youre the only person
the tax official is going to be talking to about buying any specific tax
certificates!
And finally, if any of those tax certificates are not redeemed by the
property owner, you will generally get the title to a completely undivided
real estate property at that minimum bid of back property taxes and
assorted minor costs!
SHORTER REDEMPTION PERIOD
Speaking of the period of redemption, there another excellent hidden

aspect to buying tax certificates direct from state or local tax
authorities. As the investor, you can SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE
the redemption period of any tax certificates.
As you know, tax certificates are encumbered by a redemption

period. During that period of time, which can last anywhere from
months to years, the property owner can redeem their property for
the price of the certificate, plus the appropriate interest rate assigned
to the certificate by the state (sometimes over 250%!).
However, generally, if a tax certificate is not sold to an investor at

the tax sale, and instead is bought by the state or county, the
redemption period begins counting down.
In other words, as soon as the tax sale is over, THE CLOCK
STARTS TICKING. If a states redemption period for a tax
certificate is one year, the property owner has one year from the date
of the tax sale to redeem the property from the state.
If, however, you purchase the tax certificate from the local tax
officials later in the year after the tax sale, the redemption period still
BEGINS ON THE DATE THE STATE TOOK POSSESSION OF
THE TAX CERTIFICATE!
EXAMPLE
Youve grown tired of Not-So-Smart Jimmy. Tired of him bidding

up the cost of your certificates, or even worse, bidding down
percentage ownership, ruining the chances of perfectly good
properties bringing you fantastic profits at little or no risk! So you
try a new strategy.
The local tax sale for Ward County in Minot, North Dakota takes
place every year on the third Tuesday of November. You dont go.
You wait nine months, avoid the six-foot winter snowdrifts in Minot,
and in balmy August of 2003 you saunter into the office of the Ward
County Auditor/Treasurer. No Not-So-Smart Jimmy in sight.
However, there are still quite a few tax certificates for sale from the
tax sale in 2000 (the year is important; Ill tell you why in a minute).
Equipped with your due diligence, you have already targeted some
excellent properties, and since there is no competitive bidding, you
buy them all at the minimum rate. Not a bad days work, huh?
Heres the fun part.
North Dakotas period of redemption is three long years. If you

bought those certificates at the tax sale in 2000, you would have used
them as shim for the sagging dining room table for three years before
you could be assured that the owner of the property could not redeem
them from you. Three years of waiting to see if your investment
came through.
HOWEVER, since you are purchasing (or being assigned) those

tax certificates from 2000 in August of 2003, the period of
redemption isnt three years. ITS THREE MONTHS.
North Dakota state law recognizes those certificates as having the same
force and effect as if such certificate had been issued on the date of sale.
In other words, the clock on those 2000 certificates started ticking almost
three years ago, they havent been redeemed yet, and youll know in a few
short months whether or not you are entitled to some amazing pieces of
property for a tiny investment at little or no risk!
So, as you can see, another advantage of buying tax certificates

direct is that you can SHORTEN THE REDEMPTION PERIOD,
which allows you to possibly reach much more quickly the primary
goal of this course: ACQUIRING PROPERTY AT A TINY
FRACTION OF ITS ASSESSED VALUE, AT LITTLE OR NO
RISK!
BETTER SERVICE
If thats not enough of a reason to skip public oral tax sales when
you can, heres another reason. In states where you can buy tax
certificates direct, if you purchase certificates at a time removed
from the annual tax sale, the staff of the local tax office will be much
more inclined to help you.
Tax sales are buy times in local tax offices. Staff is more likely to be
frazzled, uncommunicative, in a hurry. If you approach the local
staff, who have an intimate knowledge of the tax certificates and the
properties related to them, at a time removed from the public tax
sale, you can get a lot of your due diligence done right in their office.
Ill talk more about this in the tools and tips section, but local staff
can be an absolute treasure to you in your search for amazingly
profitable properties.
a) they may know which certificates are more likely to clear the
redemption period, providing you with the property itself, as
opposed to the redeemed tax certificate!
b) they very well may have a locals knowledge as to which local
areas and properties are the most valuable.
c) they might be willing to help you out with the little details
adding up a certificates correct price and interest, locating properties
on a street map, or just sending you to the best coffee shop in town!
BUYING TAX CERTIFICATES DIRECT OR

OVER-THE-COUNTER
PROS & CONS
PROS
No Competitive Bidding.
At public auction tax sales, especially in counties with large populations,
competitive bidding from other investors can drive up the price of the
certificate, CUTTING INTO YOUR PROFITS or even splitting the
property into pieces much more difficult to re-sell or do anything else with.
If buying over-the-counter, you will usually be asked to pay

the minimum bid (back property taxes, plus costs) for the full,
undivided property, no more!
First Come, First-Served.
Buying direct from local tax officials, as opposed to at the

public tax sale, means no lines, no random selection, no other
investors around to cloud the issue. You walk in (or even call
on the phone!), and choose from the array Since there is no
competitive bidding, there is no difficulty in acquiring the tax
certificates you want.
Year-long Access.
Some states hold each and every annual county tax sale on the same day of
the year. Again, do the math. Unless you own some sort of science fiction
cloning device, theres no way you can be at tax sales for fifty counties if
all of them take place on February 7! If you have a fast car, you might be
able to make two. One day out of 365 in a year severely limits your
opportunity window to acquire tax certificates that could lead to you
owning property at a huge profit (for little or no risk, right?)!
However, in most states that use this system, if a tax certificate

is not sold at the annual tax sale, it is sold to the state or
country. And, in most states, a savvy investor like you can
buy any certificate sold to the local government almost year-
round! If you buy tax certificates over-the-counter, you can
MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFIT OPPORTUNITIES by being
able to buy tax certificates on many days in many counties
throughout the year, as opposed to just one.
Shorten the Redemption Period.

Instead of buying tax certificates at a local tax sale and waiting the entire
redemption period to find out whether you can take possession of the
property the certificate holds a lien over, buy the certificates direct. As
time lengthens into the redemption period, it becomes less and less likely
that a property will be bought back, or redeemed.
In many states you can buy tax certificates from local tax
officials over-the-counter far into the redemption period,
sometimes shortening your wait to a few months. In some
cases, you can start the process of obtaining a tax deed to the
property immediately!
Better Service.
Local tax staff is far more likely to be helpful and non-frazzled

when selling certificates over-the-counter, as opposed to
during the mayhem of a public oral bid tax sale.
CONS
Geography.
Many states sell tax certificates over-the-counter, but not all of

them. If more did, you and I would have even greater
opportunities to acquire fantastic properties for a tiny
STEVES FINAL GRADE: A+

____________________
CHAPTER 3:
THE RECAP
____________________
There are as many methods for purchasing tax deeds and tax certificates as
there are states in the U.S., probably as many as there are counties. With
the fence of lingo and mumbo-jumbo that all of the local tax authorities
have surrounded themselves with, however, theres really only one goal:
ACQUIRING PROPERTY.
The single most important thing to take out of this chapter is that almost
everywhere in this country, using this system, there are opportunities to
make FANTASTIC PROFITS by acquiring real estate property for A
TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK!
Heres a recap of my final grades for each of the systems we covered

above:
1. PUBLIC ORAL BID FORECLOSURE AUCTION

OR DEED TAX SALE

PROS
Low Opening Bid. Usually the cost of the back taxes, plus
administrative costs and penalties!
First Lien. Many states consider property tax liens as priority

to all other liens, wiping out any secondary ones!
Great Equity. A first lien may mean gigantic profits and

huge equity for pennies on the dollar!
Free and Clear. Generally, once you have the deed in your
hand, its yours. No messy contact or litigation from previous
owners.
CONS
Competition. The fact that the state holds an oral bid auction
(i.e., in public) means others attending the tax sale might want
the same properties youre looking at, possibly driving up the
bid.
2. PUBLIC ORAL BID
AUCTION TAX SALE
PROS

owners.
OK Equity. A first lien can still mean big profits and great
equity, as you are acquiring the property with all other liens
discharged!
CONS
Competition. You still run the risk of competitive investors

driving the price of the property up.
Higher Opening Bid. Not usually the cost of the back taxes,
plus administrative costs and penalties! Generally these state
offer their counties the ability to set opening bids at higher or
much higher levels.
STEVES FINAL GRADE: C-
3. PUBLIC ORAL BID TAX CERTIFICATE SALE
Essentially, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,

Vermont, and Wyoming. California, New Hampshire, Ohio, and New York
allow tax certificate sales, but theyre not universal.
PROS
Huge Interest Rates. 16% is not unusual; can go up to 240%.
PROPERTY OWNERSHIP. Chance to acquire property!

owners.
Great Equity. A first lien wiping out all secondary liens on

the property means its very possible to acquire HUGE equity
in the property secured by the tax lien, upwards of 95%
EQUITY!
Lack of Popularity. Not as many investors to bid away your

profits!
CONS
Competition. Competitive bidding can have all sorts of

impact on the price of the certificate. Bidding down interest
or property ownership and bidding up price can mess with
your profits! Do your due diligence. Know the local rules and
customs BEFORE you start bidding.
Redemption Period. They can last from months to years.

But youre wait can be well worth it, if the property owner
doesnt redeem the property, and it becomes yours!
4. BUYING TAX CERTIFICATES DIRECT
Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, Montana,

Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Wyoming.
PROS
No Competitive Bidding. Buying over-the-counter means

completely avoiding competitive investors driving down your
profits!
First Come, First-Served. No lines, no random selection, no

other investors around to cloud the issue. You walk in (or
even call on the phone!), and choose from the array. Since
there is no competitive bidding, there is no difficulty in
acquiring the tax certificates you desire.
Year-long Access. You can buy for much of the years as

opposed to on only one day!
Shorten the Redemption Period. Buying certificates late

into the redemption period reduces your waiting time before
you can acquire the property attached to the certificate!
Better Service. Local tax staff is far more likely to be helpful

and non-frazzled when selling certificates over-the-counter, as
opposed to during the mayhem of a public oral bid tax sale.
CONS
Minimal. If you do your due diligence and homework,

buying tax certificates direct can be an excellent strategy for
fantastic profits from a tiny investment for little or no risk!
STEVES FINAL GRADE: A+!
SO NOW WHAT?
But now that you understand the opportunities out there, how do you reap
the rewards? What do you look for in a property? How do you bid at an
auction? How do you avoid competitive bidding?
Ive got a pile of how-to hints and advice in the Book Two, which will
focus on straightforward, practical steps that can put you on the road to
making fantastic profits for a tiny investment at little or no risk!
_____________________
_____________________
-BOOK TWO-
_____________________
MAKING YOUR NEW

KNOWLEDGE
PAY OFF!
Steves Guide To Tax Lien Fortunes
_____________________
OK, youve done your homework and know all about the world of tax
liens, right? Now its time to put all the knowledge to work. In this part of
the book, Im going to walk you through the best strategies for making real
money in real estate. Read everything, and real it carefully, and then you
can get out and hit the ground running.
Lets get to it
____________________
CHAPTER 1:
THE DREAM SALE
____________________
Youve found it! After weeks of searching through the wilderness of

bidding-up prices and local random-selection for bidder rules, all the stars
have aligned and youve located the dream tax sale. Its not the location,
though Colorado in December and Arizona in February can be nice. Its
not the people, in fact the fewer the better.
The following four conditions are the prerequisites for an excellent tax sale,
which will offer you the opportunity to make HUGE PROFITS for a TINY
INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK:
Lowest Possible Opening Bid.

The opening bid at a tax sale is typically just delinquent property taxes,
plus administrative costs and fees, often under 5% of the assessed value of
the property!
Free and Clear.
Many times a tax lien is a priority lien, meaning that all other
liens on the property upon purchase or acquisition of the
property!
Excellent Equity.
If you end up acquiring the real estate for that opening bid,
you could have very large percentage equity in the property!
No Competitive Bidders.
The only thing better than just one competitive bidder at a tax
sale is no competitive bidders at a tax sale. That way, no one
can bid up the lowest possible opening bid!
In all honesty, finding a tax sale with all of these characteristics is a bit
unlikely. Many self-proclaimed real estate gurus present a similar checklist,
and expect you to travel all around the country searching for the perfect
sale. But what if you cant travel the country? What if you, like almost
everybody else in the world, have a limited budget and limited time
window? There are still methods and ways to dramatically improve your
chances to make huge profits for a tiny investment, at little or no risk at any
tax sale!
So if youre not at the dream sale, how do you decide what to purchase?
Now that I mention it, forget about deciding! How do you even make a
purchase? Where do you find tax sales? Whats the bidding process
about? How do you locate likely properties? Once you locate them, how
do you evaluate them? What should you be looking for?
Ive dedicated this section of the eBook to answering all of those questions,
and many more. I want to move past the empty promises that so many
other real estate hucksters might give you. Its not about a bunch of
technical gobbledy-gook. Its not about the luck of the draw. Its about
basic common sense and a little bit of homework! Follow the plan Im
about to outline for you, and do your homework regarding properties and
local customs and laws, and I guarantee you that you will increase your
chances of making HUGE PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at
LITTLE OR NO RISK.
This section is divided into three parts:
1. THE POINT
2. THE PROCEDURE
3. THE PAYOFF
Each is designed to specifically address, with hard-core strategy and tips,

how to place yourself in a better position to make HUGE PROFITS for a
TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK.
Heres what they each mean
THE POINT
outlines just what were trying to accomplish through tax sale investment
and preferable ways for you to approach making truly gigantic profits!
THE PROCEDURE
is the nuts-and-bolts section that, in straightforward, no-nonsense language,
really gets at the heart of how to improve your chances to make HUGE
PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK!
THE PAYOFF
wraps-up with exactly what you may stand to gain if you do your
homework and due diligence and apply these strategies profit, profit,
profit!
____________________
CHAPTER 2
THE POINT - PROPERTY
____________________
I have one word for you: Property. That is our goal. That is our mission.
Many other real estate investors at tax certificate sales are interested in the
interest rate return on the certificate, which is certainly attractive up to
24% in some states. A long-term investment strategy of buying
certificates, selling them back to property owners who redeem them at the
price plus interest, and then buying more certificates and repeating the
process, can create a nice little nest egg for your retirement.
However, if youre interested in making HUGE PROFITS for a TINY

INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK in few years or even a few
months, that particular strategy is not the way to go.
EXAMPLE
You are at a tax certificate sale in the city of Baltimore,
Maryland, where the interest rate on tax certificates is a titanic
24% per annum. Youre excited about that, but youre more
excited about a house youve located that is part of the tax sale.
You bid on the certificate for the house, and purchase it at for
$5,000. But the property is assessed at around $100,000, so you
stand to make a HUGE PROFIT is the property is not redeemed!
Heres a bonus the redemption period is a relatively short six
months. However, six months later, just as you are preparing to
foreclose, a relative with a legal claim on the house shows up and
pays you your bid, $5,000, plus that magnificent 24% per annum
interest on your $5,000, or about $100 per month, times six
months. About $600!
Now, $600 profit is nothing to sneeze at, but its not the
$95,000 EQUITY in the house you stood to gain if the
certificate was not redeemed!
Its time for me to ask you a question: which would you prefer?
A. Six Hundred Dollars
B. NINETY-FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS
When I put it that way, its rather simple, isnt it? Our goal, buying tax
deeds and tax certificates, is NOT the excellent rate of interest return that
may accompany these documents. Thats a distraction, and a nice
consolation prize.
Our goal is locating and acquiring the PROPERTIES that will make us
HUGE PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK!
___________________
CHAPTER 3:
THE PROCEDURE
GETTING THE LIST, CHECKING IT TWICE
____________________
So, now weve established that youre truly interested in property and only
property, many questions start to rear their heads. Which properties? How
do you identify them? Where should you go?
DUE DILIGENCE
First of all, let me say that it is INDISPENSIBLE for you to do your due
diligence. Think back (for some of us, its a long ways) to middle school
or junior high. It was very tempting to skimp on the homework the night
before the test, wasnt it? It was so much easier and more fun to go spend
time with friends or grab a Coke and flip on the TV. But the next morning
at the test, you regret the fact that you didnt spend a little more time
reading about the Teapot Dome scandal.
Its the same way with real estate investing, except the potential
ramifications are not the difference between a B and a B minus on a test.
Not doing your due diligence can result in mistakes that could cost you
THOUSANDS of dollars of potential and actual profits!
Below are three excellent stepping stones to getting your due diligence
started up:
Step Number 1: RESEARCH
Before you go to Spain for a vacation, you buy a phrasebook, right?

You take some language classes or at least get that pocket-sized
dictionary so you can order the good stuff in restaurants and ask the
taxi driver to take you back to your hotel. And the thing is, that sort
of limited preparation is mostly what you need, because in Europe
theres probably a good chance somebody in the immediate area will
speak at least a little English.
But at tax sales, English doesnt count. You need to speak, and
furthermore, be fluent in, tax sale-ese. You need to speak the
language of the tax sale. Buying this guide is a number of steps in
the right direction! But theres no substitute for specific local
knowledge. If I went into every tiny bidding detail for every county
in every state, this guide would cost more than it does and would be
so heavy it would break through your dining room table!
Never fear. Mastery of tax sale-ese just requires some research!

Stay Local.
Focus your attention at the beginning of your tax sale/certificate investing
career on counties a close drive from you, or on one or two adjacent states
with systems that interest you.
Our Tool Kit.

The Tool Kit segment of this guide provides a wealth of Internet links and
tips that will help you connect with state and county tax officials and sites,
easing the road into huge profits!
Halls of Knowledge.
Spend a little time in the local law library. Look for state
statutes on conducting tax sales. Takes some notes, or even
photocopy them to refer to at the drop of a hat! Due diligence
is like an apple a day. It can keep the losses and lawyers
away!
Drop In.
Visit the county and municipal tax authorities in the off-

season, months before any tax sales they might be holding.
Ask questions! Get familiar with their local customs and
practices.
If you know the local rules and the folks who will ACTUALLY
BE CONDUCTING THE SALE, you can acquire some obvious
advantages, and some potential allies!
If you master these four areas, you are radically increasing your
chances to be speaking tax sale-ese as well as a the tax lawyers and
real estate wonks, and you may radically increase your chances to
make HUGE PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR
NO RISK!
Step Number 2: TIME AND DATE OF THE SALE
Youve done your statutory due diligence. Youve got the local
customs and tax rules down, and youre ready to go! But, where do
you go? Locating the local county, state or municipal tax sale is
usually pretty simple.
Statutory Requirements.
There is almost always a statutory requirement (i.e. the law

says the tax officials must announce it) for states and county
tax offices to publicly announce tax sales, as well as announce
the sales to property owners. In practice, lists of properties or
certificates can be posted in public places around the county as
well, or just pinned to the tax officials office door.
Newspaper Announcements.
Generally, tax officials are required to take out newspaper

advertisements announcing properties defaulting on property
taxes, along with the actual date and time of the sale.
Early Bird has More Time to Locate Property.
Ok, youve done your due diligence, located the tax office,
and already gone in to talk to the officials and get the
lowdown on local rules and customs. Chances are, you can
acquire some information regarding the properties or
certificates up for sale BEFORE most of the investors, who
just look for the newspaper ads.
This head start can translate into valuable property research
time, especially in large or more populated counties with big
numbers of properties on the block. Remember, more
knowledge = potentially more profit!
Early identification of the sale and the sale properties can give you a
leg up on the competition in terms of identifying prospective profit-
making properties, and having the most knowledge about any given
property at the tax sale!
Step Number 3: READING THE LISTING
Ok, the tax sale is in a couple months, but hasnt been announced in
the papers yet. How do you know this?
Well the information was provided to you by the friendly tax

officials at the local office; you introduced yourself to them a couple
of months ago while doing your local tax law research. Since then,
you drop in occasionally, just to catch up on a personal level. You
even picked some coffee up for them when they was very busy and
couldnt take a break.
All this personal attention pays off one day when you stop by to say
hello, and you see theyve posted the list of properties for the next
tax sale. The newspaper ads go out next week, so youve got a jump
on the competition!
The staff makes you a photocopy of the list, and youre on your way!
You go out to the car, and see a list of numbers something like this:
345-106-1997-50-23544
345-365-1995-150-43386
346-222-2000-50-56677
These numbers continue all down the page! What do they mean? Is
it some sort of secret real estate guru code? How could they do this
to you? You bought them coffee and everything! Remain calm.
Everythings going to be ok. Every state, county, and municipal
jurisdiction has their own particular way of identifying various
pieces of property. Part of your due diligence is just being able to
read the list! This is another reason why its good to get to know the
local tax officials, as they can translate the mumbo-jumbo into
specific information for you!
To get you started, here are three common systems that tax officials
use to identify property. Generally, a local tax office will use one or
a couple of systems similar to these:
Street Address.
The basics. Many jurisdictions list a parcel by the address of

the property and the name of the property owner. A particular
listing might read as follows: 9299 Briarcliff Road, currently
owned by David and Kathy Crawford. This type of listing is
straightforward and easy to read, but not as specific as the
other listing systems were about to explore.
Tax Property ID Number.
The extended numbering method from the example at the

beginning of Step 3. For tax registration purposes, each parcel
of land, whether improved or not, receives a unique
identification number. Each part of the number (separated in
the example by hyphens) contains specific and unique
information about that particular piece of property. Those
numbers are linked to specific tax maps covering various parts
of the city, and usually on file with the tax officials. Lets
look at a specific example on your list:
345-365-1995-150-43386
Now, lets break down what each number might mean:
345 General area of town
365 Subdivision or neighborhood
1995 Year the number was assigned
150 Type of property (like an apartment complex or single

family home)
43386 Unique identification number for that piece of real

property
This system makes your job much simpler if youre looking

for a specific type of property.
For example, if you were looking for unimproved land (lets

say thats code 150), you could just scan the listings for all the
150 properties, and ignore the rest. Similarly, if youre
interested only in a certain area, just look at the 345 tax
book map.
Legal Description.
Another method used by tax officials to list properties is the

use of a legal description. Deed registrars often catalogue
legal description listings in an index, called the grantor/grantee
index, of their local office. Heres a typical listing: the
property owned by Chad and Margaret Hennings as conveyed
to them by Deed recorded on September 10, 1945 in Volume
177, Page 313 of the official deed records of Johnson County,
Kansas. Lots of lingo, huh? Lets break it down:
Chad and Margaret Hennings are the property owners of

record. Theyll be the ones who are delinquent on their
property taxes, and among the possible redeemers of the
property.
September 10, 1945 is the date they took possession of

the deed to the property. This happened a while ago, in
1945. Chances are better that the property is free and
clear of all other liens than if the date is more recent. If
the property was purchased more recently, its possible
there are other interested parties (mortgage companies,
relatives, etc.) who may be interested in redeeming the
property, making your acquisition less likely.
Volume 177, Page 313 of the official deed records of

Johnson County, Kansas. These numbers locate the
property in the county tax map books, where youll
probably be able to locate the street address of the
property.
Now that you know where youre going, its time to evaluate those
properties, to further increase your chances to make HUGE
PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK!
_____________________
CHAPTER 4:
THE PROCEDURE
SOME NO-NOS
____________________
Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a list of properties! So

how can you convert that piece of paper into what might be HUGE
PROFITS for a PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR? Eat your vegetables. Get
out there and do your homework. Visit those addresses and check out the
properties for yourself.
Remember the Point? Youre trying to acquire property. Even more

importantly, youre trying to acquire the BEST PROPERTY. You can only
discover the BEST PROPERTY by evaluating the parcels yourself.
Bidding at a tax sale, or even buying certificates over-the-counter, for
property you have never seen before, is a recipe for disaster.
Environmental problems, neighborhood considerations (a beautiful single-

family home plopped down next to a slaughterhouse, for example),
occupied properties, all of these conditions and many more can lessen your
ability to acquire a piece of property at a FANTASTIC PROFIT for a
A great first step in weeding out properties from the list as having the least
potential for you is to ask the advice of your friend, the tax official. He or
she can turn you on to some great neighborhoods or areas that are likely to
be more profitable than others. After that, jump in the car and get moving!
Theres a problem here: you cant bring in a group of experts to check out
the property from top to bottom. First, it would be prohibitively expensive
to go through property after property after property on your list. Second,
and more importantly, YOU DONT OWN THE PROPERTY. Walking
around on a property owned by someone else is called trespassing, and its
illegal. Youd be surprised, however, by how much you can find out about
a property from the side of the road or the sidewalk.
Below, Ive listed my group of No-Nos, property characteristics that should

throw up a giant red flag for you. Avoid these properties like the plague!
A FEW NO-NOs :
Environmental Issues.
Youll be surprised how many properties out there have

serious environmental issues attached to them. You might
also be surprised to know that every owner in the chain of title
of a property is responsible for the clean-up costs required to
deal with the waste or pollution associated with the site!
Lets say a company called BigGasCorp ran a gas station on

the parcel of land you just acquired during World War II.
What you dont know is that they has underground storage
tanks for gas and oil on site that have been seeping into the
surrounding soil. BigGasCorp then went out of business.
Now that you own the property, YOU ARE STILL LIABLE
TO CLEAN UP THEIR MESS, even sixty years after the fact.
Even if you had no idea PollutionCorp even existed, YOU
ARE STILL LIABLE TO CLEAN UP THE LAND. Much
money will be lost in the clean-up, and youre fantastic profit
may turn into a painful loss.
The problem here is that you cant know this without a

professional inspection, but you cant get a professional
inspection until you own the land! All you can do is be on the
look-out for tip-offs that may indicate environmental issues
with the property.
Avoid the following:
Underground Storage.
Any property that contains or once used underground storage.

Industrial Past.
Any type of property which used to be used for industrial

purposes, including farmland.
Demolition Land.
Any property that once had any sort of structure on it, even if
the busted-up building has been removed.
The Dump.
Any property used as an illegal dump (i.e., cars, washing

machines, etc dropped off by local residents who have
nowhere else to dispose of them).
Wasteland.
Dwarf trees and blasted areas even in the summer may

indicate an environmental problem.
Smelly Neighbors.
If the property is next door or near obvious environmental

hazards (gas station, dry cleaning firm, etc.).
Not In My Back Yarders.
Everybody knows that there are facilities very important to the

functioning of a town or city. Everybody also knows that they
dont want to live next door to them! Avoid properties nestled
near the following:
- Industrial Plants
- Factories
- Sewer Treatment Plants
- Mines and Mining Operations
- Rendering/Meat Processing Plants
- Mental Hospitals
- Alcoholism/Drug Rehab Centers
- Prisons and Jails
- Recycling Centers
- Chemical Plants
- Homeless Shelters
- Airports
- Shipyards
- Nuclear Power Plants
- Warehouse Districts
- Railroad Yards
- Homeless Shelters
Again, the idea here is not to acquire just any property you can
get your hands on! I guarantee you there will be many
opportunities to acquire property next door to, or across the
street from any and all the red areas listed above. But you
wont be acquiring profitable property. All youll be
acquiring is a headache!
I Already Live/Work Here.
Remember Stupid Jimmy in Iowa? He acquired a property

already occupied by a little old lady who didnt want to move.
Most people dont, and if redeeming a tax certificate or a deed
is possible, its much more likely to be redeemed if somebody
is living at/working on the property.
If a residential unit is in good repair, with a motorcycle parked
in front of it, or if a commercial property has an Espresso Hut
stationed there, chances are much greater that somebody is
interested in retaining and/or redeeming the property. That
means chances are greater that you wont end up owning the
property.
Phony Improvements.
Just because a tax certificate says a parcel of property is

improved by a residence or other improvement doesnt mean
the certificate is still telling the truth! Maybe you buy a tax
certificate sight-unseen, foreclose on the property, and then
travel out to see your new property, only to find out that the
owner MOVED THE HOUSE. Stranger things have
happened.
Underwater Investing.
Acquiring properties near wetlands or on flood plains is risky

business. Unless youre prepared for and have the resources
to perform major drainage and reclamation projects, give these
areas a pass, unless you like having the lake as a permanent
resident in your living room during the rainy season! Its also
very difficult to get insurance on land the federal government
recognizes as flood plain. Take a pass.
Ok, so thats a lot of things to look out for. It seems like bad things can
happen at every turn. Thats true, FOR THE INVESTOR THAT
DOESNT DO HIS OR HER HOMEWORK! However, for you, its
simply a way to separate the good for the bad! You cant concentrate on
every property on the list from a tax officials office, anyway. Theres not
enough time. Youve got to get over to the next county and work some
profit magic there, as well!
If you let the bad seeds weed themselves out, you are more likely to gain
HUGE PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK.
After you weed out the lemons, use the method below to increase your
chances of gaining HUGE PROFITS even further! I call it the Rule of the
Pan.
_____________________
CHAPTER 5:
THE PROCEDURE
THE RULE OF THE PAN
____________________
Movies dealing with the gold rush are filled with old codgers standing hip-
dip in a stream in the high Sierras. Theres one of them, dipping his
prospectors pan in the silt at the bottom of the stream over and over again,
swirling the goop around and around, face fixed in concentration. Then
suddenly, as the silt and muck drains out the holes in the bottom of the pan,
there it is, hes found gold!
Think of the following checklist as your own personal prospectors pan.

You need some way to narrow your prospects down to a manageable
number of properties, on which you can really focus your attention, and
that increase your chances of making FANTASTIC PROFITS for
PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR!
So, using the No-Nos, youve disqualified all of the really risky properties
from your quest. But, theres still a sizeable list of properties left. How do
you distinguish between them? I designed this checklist to give you big
chunks of information, all of which will give you a leg up as you pursue
profit through property!
YOUR GOLD RUSH CHECKLIST
Your equipment to go through this checklist should require no more than a

phone book, a computer with Internet access, and a couple of friendly
conversations with the neighbors and friends of the property owner.
OWNERS
The essential information you need to discover is the location

of the owner. How likely are they to redeem the property? If
the owner is dead, on the lam from the Feds, or has given up
all material issues and is living in a monastery on a mountain
in Tibet, the likelihood of redemption is slim. If the owner is
taking an extended vacation in the Bahamas, the likelihood of
redemption increases quite a bit.
SALE DATE
There are some good hints here. You may have a better
chance of acquiring a house last sold in 1930 than one sold
last year. Although, why would the owner with huge cash
reserves not pay his/her taxes? Is there some information
there that you need?
SALE PRICE
You can get this information from any real estate agent. The
house that sold in 1930 for $4,500 may have an owner that
doesnt exist anymore. A sale price comparable to the market
from a couple of years ago may indicate that the owner is
scrapped for cash temporarily, but will attempt to save the
property when push comes to shove.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Improved properties are easier to check out/inspect than raw
land. Improved property comes de facto with sewage
disposal, zoning, probably wont flood in the middle of your
first night in it, etc. Raw land carries a bit more risk.
BUILDING PERMITS
Similarly, if work has already been done to ready raw land for
subdivision or construction, it has quite a bit more value than
land without that work. Difficult to discover, but good to
know if you can find out about them.
APPRAISED VALUE MATCH-UP
Does the appraised value of the property match up with other
properties in the area? If it doesnt, you should discover the
reason. If you do your due diligence with regard to appraised
values in the area, you can locate the properties that just dont
smell right. A low appraised value in a high-rent area can be
very dangerous.
In the Business Journal of Milwaukee, Richard Gardner, the
assistant tax collector for Dade County, Florida, said that in
his area, $10,000 in assessed tax-lien value probably would
by a 15-acre lake full of rocks or a small plot on which you
could put a billboard, if youre lucky. Know your area, and
go after those properties that compare well with others in the
area.
ZONING
What a lovely meadow across from your new property! Too
bad you didnt now its zoned to become a new water
reclamation plant for the city! Check out zoning around the
property youre examining, not only for the property itself.
NEW DEVELOPMENT
New construction projects in run-down areas may be a
signal that appraised values and commercial traffic through
may be getting ready to jump through the roof! A savvy
investment might be the tax deed on that run-down video store
directly across from that abandoned widget factory THAT
WILL BE TURNED INTO LUXURY CONDOS NEXT
YEAR!
Again, do your homework, get the low-down of new zoning
from the local zoning board, read the papers for stories about
rezoning or redevelopment, and you could find some amazing
opportunities for yourself to produce HUGE PROFITS for
PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR at LITTLE OR NO RISK!
TRANSPORTATION ACCESS
The original real estate joke: What are the three most
important facets of a property? Location, location, and
location. How close is the property to interstates, bus routes,
hard roads in rural areas? Is it close enough to be
convenient, so whoever lives in the house can jump on the
highway to get to work downtown? Conversely, is the house
directly underneath an underpass or next door to the elevated
train stop? Prospective buyers want convenience to
transportation, but they dont want the subway in their living
room!
Any or all of these checklist items can help you get an excellent sense for
which properties might best provide you with HUGE PROFITS for
PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR!
_____________________
CHAPTER 6:
THE PAYOFF
____________________
Weve identified your goal, to PROFIT through acquiring properties.
Weve identified the straightforward PROCEDURE, which will help you

separate the wheat from the chaff and locate a decent string of properties.
Now its time to set yourself for a possibly huge PAYOFF
Ive put together a list of real-world secrets and tried-and-true tips to bring
you that extra mile, and help you locate those special properties that may
bring you HUGE PROFITS for PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR at little or
no risk!
STEVES STRATEGY SECRETS
This experts chapter will show you more than the basics! Doing your due
diligence and your homework, learning local tax customs, meeting the tax
officials, checking out your properties, thats all basic training. Now that
youve mastered them, youre ready for the big time!
In the following pages Ive outlined the secret techniques I use to increase
my chances of acquiring HUGE PROFITS for TINY INVESTMENTS
through tax deed and tax certificate purchasing! Here we go!
SECRET 1:
RURAL SALES
Smaller counties can be the gateway to larger profits, especially if youre

buying tax certificates direct, but also if you are participating in a public
oral bid tax sale.
Public Oral Bid Tax Sale.
Its that simple math again. Big Cities equals more people. Smaller
Towns equals fewer people. This equation probably holds true for
tax sales, as well. Far from the population centers, you tend to find
not as many people interested in tax liens and the profits that can be
made from them. All the more reason for you to get on the road, and
take advantage of the lack of competition!
Buying Direct.
The logic follows here. If there are fewer people at local tax sales in
smaller counties, it stands to reason that more tax certificates will not
be sold. As you know from previous parts of this eBook, if a tax
certificate isnt sold at the annual tax sale, the county or state usually
buys it, and it sits in the tax office. And if there are more deals on
good property waiting for you out in the smaller counties, my advice
is get in your car and get on the road right away!
SECRET 2:
TAX CERTIFICATES IN LOW INTEREST STATES
If you could choose two scoops of ice cream or three, which would you
choose? Thats a no-brainer, of course. Youd choose three. But its a
trick question. The real question is, would you choose three scoops of ice
cream, or two scoops that would turn into two ice cream TRUCKS full of
ice cream? I would choose the trucks over those paltry three scoops.
Wouldnt you? Heres how this story translates:
Many states give tremendous rates of return on their tax certificates. The
city of Baltimore, Maryland gives 24%. Illinois gives over 18%. Those
are excellent returns you will receive if the tax certificate is redeemed.
But wait a minute, the goal here is not for the certificate to be redeemed.
Its for you to use the tax certificate to acquire PROPERTY! Especially if
you are buying direct, you may be facing slim pickings when trying to
purchase a tax certificate in a high interest state.
As I mentioned before, some tax investors are mainly in the certificate

market for the interest rate, and the big interest states will draw a lot of
competitive interest. Competitive interest, as weve explored before, limits
your ability to acquire HUGE PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at
LITTLE OR NO COST!
However, look at a state like South Carolina. Its tax certificates carry an
8% rate of return, just slightly more than some savings accounts! How
many people do you think are going to flock to tax sales in that fair state?
Not nearly as many. This lack of competition gives you a correspondingly

better chance to get certificates that you can use to acquire property, and
also gives you a reasonably better chance to acquire certificates to valuable
properties over-the-counter!
SECRET 3:
LOCATING TAX CERTFICATES LEAST LIKELY TO BE REDEEMED

In Chapter 4 we dealt with how to locate valuable tax certificates or
property deeds, but theres likely to be quite a few of those scattered about
the tax wilderness. And remember, were looking not only for tax
certificates on valuable properties, but also ones that are NOT LIKELY TO
BE REDEEMED!
Wait! What if youre not satisfied with tax certificates on properties that
are simply valuable? What if you want to tip the betting table towards you
even further? As a savvy and ambitious real estate investor, you want not
only to find those properties that are valuable, but are likely to fall into
your hands and not likely to be redeemed by their previous owners!
Its an extraordinary situation when a valuable property isnt redeemed by

someone! As the owner of a valuable property, you wouldnt just give it
up for back taxes. Neither would anyone else. But there are properties out
there that will not be redeemed.
How do you identify such a property? ESP? Random luck? Nope. Ive
got another checklist for you
I believe locating properties with these characteristics will enable you to

drastically increase your chances to locate certificates that are not likely to
be redeemed! And if that occurs, you could be well positioned to be
acquiring HUGE PROFITS for PENNIES ON THE DOLLAR at LITTLE
OR NO RISK.
Be on the lookout for these flags, and youre on your way!
FLAG 1 ABANDONMENT
This is the premiere signal flag to look for. There are as many
reasons for abandoning a property as there are people in the
world. A change of heart, an untimely death, inheriting a
property on the other side of the country and then forgetting
about it, the list goes on. Heres one possible example:
EXAMPLE:
After having identified a list of likely properties, you are doing
your due diligence. One of the properties on the list has a
beautiful old clapboard house on it, straight out of the Wizard
of Oz. But its dilapidated broken windows, lawn all grown
over, no mail in the mailbox. It looks abandoned!
Upon further investigation (a quick friendly chat with the

neighbors), you discover that the owner went on a trip to the
Inca Trail in Peru and never came back! The neighbors say
the bachelor hasnt been around for two years or more!
The house certainly seems abandoned. Flag 1 identified.

FLAG 2 ABANDONMENT BY LENDER OR NO
LENDER
This flag is equally important to research! Typically, when a
potential property owner purchases a property, they dont have
enough cash to pay the entire purchase price. They may be
able to hand a down-payment of $15,000 on a $100,000,
which leaves them short $85,000.
Thats where a lender and a mortgage comes in. A bank or
lending institution will commonly agree to pay the remainder
of the purchase price in exchange for a mortgage, a loan taken
out by the property owner. In the case above, the property
owner will repay the $85,000 over a period of time, plus a rate
of interest that is agreeable to both parties.
The lender now has a very strong interest in the property, as
$85,000 of the purchase price came from the lender! And, as
security for the lender, if the property owner doesnt pay the
monthly mortgage, the lender eventually has the right to
foreclose on the property, placing a lien on the property just
like local tax officials might. If they foreclose on the property,
the investor is free to recoup its investment by reselling the
property.
Heres the important thing. Weve established before that in
many states property tax liens are a PRIORITY TAX LIEN.
In other words they come before all other liens. If a tax
certificate or tax deed is purchased by a savvy investor like
yourself, it is often the case that all other liens are WIPED
OUT, including a lenders lien.
DOES THE PROPERTY HAVE A LENDER LIEN?

You can research whether a property has a mortgage or deed
of trust against it by checking into the propertys title. Usually
a county office called the County Clerks office or the
Recorders office is the place to research a title.
If in your research you discover the property has a mortgage
against it, you should probably give this property a pass.
Since they stand to lose, in this case, $85,000, it is very
unlikely a lender will not redeem a property tax lien!
Since the lender redeeming the property is not an outcome you
desire (you want the property for yourself!), the best strategy
to deal with this flag is bypass it, and move on to Flag 3.
FLAG 3 FREE & CLEAR

The best way to deal with a property encumbered by a lenders
lien (i.e., a mortgage or a deed of trust) is to move on to
another property! Chances are that a lender will redeem a
property from an investor who has purchased its tax
certificate.
So avoid properties encumbered by lenders liens, and focus
on the free and clear properties! A property without a
mortgage or deed of trust is often called free and clear,
meaning that there are no other outstanding liens on the
property.
By doing your homework at Flag 2, and determining whether
or not a property is encumbered with a lenders lien, leads you
directly to Flag 3. If a lenders lien exists, walk away. If it
doesnt, then that property is very likely free and clear!
FLAG 4 INHERITANCE
Bill is in the middle of a move from Philadelphia to Cherry
Hill, New Jersey, his wife is having a second baby in about
two months, hes changing jobs, and grandma broke her hip,
so shes coming to stay to recuperate. A typical family day.
In the middle of all this chaos, a notice comes in the mail that
his great uncle Harry passed away, and he left Bill his fishing
cabin in Whitefish, Montana. Bill thinks, hmm, thats nice,
and promptly forgets all about it.
The family moves, Bill continues to not remember about the
cabin across the country, and eventually the property tax
notices start to come in, after wending their way through
forwarding notices and the U.S. Postal Service. Bill has just
received a promotion and more responsibility, and hes also
just received news that a third baby is on the way.
He looks at the tax lien notice and makes an executive
decision: eighty-six the cabin. Montana can have it. Its
probably a rickety old shack, anyway. And whats in
Whitefish, Montana? Whatever.
Well, Whitefish is a resort town, and Uncle Harrys fishing
cabin is actually a three-bedroom summer home on a
beautiful piece of lakefront property. And now its free for
you to acquire at a HUGE PROFIT for a TINY
INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK!
Inheriting a property can be a wonderful windfall. Depending
on the property owners personality and relative financial
position, it can also be an annoyance that they just want to go
away! Or it can be something the property owner is not
equipped to deal with right now. In any case, there are
interesting possibilities here for a savvy investor.
If you determine, while searching at the Recorders/County
Clerks office that a property has been inherited or received as
a gift, its possible that the current owners have
ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST IN REDEEMING THE
PROPERTY, no matter how fantastic it may be!
FLAG 5 UNDELIVERABLE
Certificate states will notify current property owners that a tax
certificate for their property will be sold at the upcoming tax
sale. Usually, this notification comes through the mail. If the
notification letters are returned to the treasurers office as
undeliverable, that means the property owner is no longer at
that address. Furthermore, they may not even know a
certificate for their property is going to be sold at the local tax
sale.
If you can find out from the local tax officials which notices
have been returned as undeliverable, the properties they are
attached to may be excellent candidates for non-redemption!
Other factors that may increase the probability of the owner
NOT REDEEMING THE PROPERTY ARE:
- if the address of the undeliverable letter is out-of-
state or, even better, out of the country
- if the address of the property owner is in care
of another party
SECRET 4:
FRIENDLY LOCAL CONTACTS
This secret is extremely important! You can use my system or any other
system with great skill and daring. You can bulldoze your way through
identifying hundreds of properties. You can spend days on due diligence.
Youd be surprised, however, how much you could be helped by a few
kind words at the local county treasurer or collectors office.
Its obvious that the people who tend to know most about tax certificates
and the properties they encumber are local tax officials, the people who sit
behind the desks in the county tax offices.
Why? Well
They may know where the best values are.
They may know where the worst values are.
They may know that the late Fred MacAtees daughter is

getting ready to redeem that property youre thinking about.
They may know that a local property youre looking at floods every six
years, and this is year five of the cycle. They may know who moved to
Outer Mongolia and isnt coming back.
They may know which property owners tax notices are being
returned marked, VACANT.
Its amazing to discover the doors a few minutes of sincere chat about
Melvas son at college or Harrys latest computer purchase might open in
the long run. So be courteous, be friendly, and be straightforward.
If youre able to develop a pleasant working relationship with local tax

workers, you will probably be increasing your chances to make HUGE
PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK! And you
may make some new friends, to boot!
____________________
CHAPTER 7:
A BRIEF SUMMARY
____________________
Tax deed and tax certificate investing doesnt have to be for real estate
gurus and tax geeks. With this guide, your due diligence and homework,
and a quick eye and some common sense, you too can greatly expand your
chances to make HUGE PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE
OR NO RISK!
In the Toolkit portion of Fortunes In Real Estate Taxes, I give you letters,
links, addresses, and other real-world tools you can use to further your own
real estate opportunities you have everything you need to make a
difference in your income, and lifestyle, and life!
_____________________
_____________________
-CONCLUSION-
_____________________
YOUR
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

&
FINAL THOUGHTS
Youre just about ready to hit the big time
_____________________
So what have you learned? Well, we talked about some of the very basis of
tax law and procedures, so you can see how this country does its tax
collecting (and where you need to be to make those hefty profits). Then we
also covered all the terms that youre going to need to know to start finding
success in the world of tax liens. From there we went into the details of
how to use that knowledge to your advantage, and all the opportunities and
pitfalls to avoid while making your way to tax lien fortunes.
Now Ill briefly summarize some of the sections, so you have a quick-
reference guide to refresh your memory as you start down the road to
success. Then Ill leave you with a few final thoughts
SECTION 1__________________________
Your Quick-Reference Guide: The Basics
OK, I know we covered a lot in Books One and Two. Heres a quick-
reference version of the key points covered in those sections, so you can
refresh your memory now or in the future. If you missed a few of the
points the first time, or just need a little extra explanation, PLEASE go
back and reread the full version of the point or tip in the body of the guide.
Thats really going to be where you get the goods, but hopefully this will
help you remember everything youll need to know to help you really hit
the ground running.
THE BASIC TERMS:

Tax Lien.
A lien is just a fancy way of saying, you owe me money, and you
havent paid me, so I am placing a claim on your property. A tax
lien is just one type of lien, usually placed on a piece of property by
the state or local government after nonpayment of property taxes.
Tax Sale.
A tax sale is generally a public event where investors buy, depending

on the state, tax deeds essentially deeds to real property or tax
certificates essentially pieces of paper that represent the tax lien,
or debt, a property owner owes in delinquent real property taxes.
Whatever the type of tax sale, it offers you the opportunity to make
FANTASTIC PROFITS for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR
NO RISK! Generally, a tax sale for a county is held once a year.
Some states require all their counties to hold their sales on the same
date.
Right of Redemption.
To redeem something is to buy it back. In plain and simple

language, if you buy a used car from me, and then I realized it would
be a great gift for a relative, its possible you might let me buy it
back, or redeem it. You might or you might not. Its your choice.
In the world of real estate tax law, theres a term floating around
called a "right of redemption." In some states, after you buy a tax
lien, the previous owner has a period of time, established by state
law, when they can buy back the lien to the property from you, for
the price you paid for it, plus quite a bit extra!
First Lien.
Property tax liens, under many state laws, are called the first lien.
Real property taxes are generally considered senior to any other lien
placed on a property. Know local real estate law before making any
permanent commitments, as its possible some jurisdictions may not
consider a tax lien as the first lien!
THE CLASSIC TAX SALES:
Public Oral Bid Foreclosure Auction or Deed Tax Sale

In states that use this particular system, after the local

government places a tax lien on delinquent real property taxes,
the lien is foreclosed, and the local government actually sells
title to the property at a tax sale.
In other words, the owner didnt pay their property taxes, so
the government took the property so it can acquire the money
owed in back taxes by selling the property.
REMEMBER:
These states usually open bidding at a minimum bid of
delinquent property taxes plus administrative fees and
associated costs!
Competitive bidding can drive up prices on tax liens at
Public Tax Sales, diminishing your ability to PROFIT,
and making it more difficult to acquire PROPERTY.
Public Oral Bid Auction Tax Sale

Be careful! Do your due diligence! These states can do things

quite a bit differently than the foreclosure states, and your
ability to make fantastic profits from tax lien sales will be
squeezed!
REMEMBER:
These state governments allow local tax officials to set

the minimum bid quite a bit higher than back property
taxes plus costs. The minimum opening bid here can be
as much as the assessed value of the property!
Public Oral Bid Tax Certificate Tax Sale
Essentially, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
Vermont, and Wyoming. California, New Hampshire, Ohio, and New
York allow tax certificate sales, but theyre not universal.
A TAX CERTIFICATE is evidence, or a license if you want to

look at it that way, showing that the investor has purchased a tax
lien. So a TAX CERTIFICATE is proof that you, the investor,
have paid the local government any outstanding property taxes on
a specific piece of real estate.
Tax Certificates can usually be redeemed over a period of time by
the property owner or parties with a legal interest in the property,
at the costs of the back property taxes and costs, plus a rate of
interest state by the appropriate state government.
REMEMBER:
A tax certificate IS NOT a deed to a property, or proof
of ownership in any way. It is a record that the investor
paid the back property taxes associated with the
property.
In a state with a smaller interest rate attached to its tax
certificates, your chances may be greater to acquire a
specific tax certificate, because fewer people may be
interested in bidding on it!

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland,
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Wyoming.
Tax Certificates not bought at a public tax sale in these states

are usually available to be bought from local tax officials
over-the-counter in the tax officials office.
In my opinion this is the MOST EFFICIENT method to

achieving the final goal, attaining property at a fantastic profit
for a tiny investment at little or no risk!
REMEMBER
Buying direct means no competitive bidders and
possibly reducing the period of redemption!
States with lower rates of return on their certificates

may have better properties available over-the-counter!
You dont have to depend on the tax sale calendar!

SECTION 2: _________________________
Your Quick-Reference Guide; The How To
Now that Ive refreshed you on the basic terms and the basic sales that you
can take advantage of, Ill remind you what to look for and what do with
this all this invaluable information.
THE DREAM SALE

Look for a tax sale that has these elements. If you find one, youre well on
your way to finding properties that you may be able to turn around for a
HUGE PROFIT!
Lowest Possible Opening Bid.
The opening bid at a tax sale is typically just delinquent

property taxes, plus administrative costs and fees, often under
5% of the assessed value of the property!
Free and Clear.
Many times a tax lien is a priority lien, meaning that all

other liens on the property upon purchase or acquisition of the
property!
Excellent Equity.
If you end up acquiring the real estate for that opening bid,
you could have a very large percentage equity in the property!
No Competitive Bidders.
The only thing better than just one competitive bidder at a tax
sale is no competitive bidders at a tax sale. That way, no one
can bid up the lowest possible opening bid!
If all tax sales were like this, you wouldnt need this guide at all! But most
tax sales are missing one or more of these characteristics. So you need to
do a little bit more planning and a little bit more homework to get to our
goal.
THE POINT: PROPERTY
Dont get distracted by tasty interest rates. Buying tax certificates that are
likely to be redeemed is a pretty sound investment strategy, but isnt likely
to make you HUGE up-front profits!
Remember the example of the ice cream cones. Lets say tax certificates
for ice cream cones are each a lien on two ice cream trucks. In this
example, were making the 24% cones more likely to be redeemed than the
8% cones.
A. A Tax Certificate likely to be redeemed, but with 24%
interest = 3 ice cream cones
B. A Tax Certificate unlikely to be redeemed, but with 8%

interest = 2 ice cream cones
At this point, three is greater than two.
However, if A is redeemed, and B is not redeemed, the situation changes:

A. Tax Certificate after redemption, but with 24% interest = 3 ice cream
cones
B. Tax Certificate NOT REDEEMED, but with 8% interest = 2 ICE
CREAM TRUCKS
Again, which would your rather own? Three ice cream cones or two ice
cream TRUCKS???
Our goal, to allow us the opportunity to make huge profits for a tiny
investment at little or no risk is to ACQUIRE PROPERTY!
THE PROCEDURE: GETTING THE LIST, CHECKING IT

TWICE
- DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE. It is VITAL that you
do your homework.
- RESEARCH.
- Stay Local. Focus your attention at the

beginning of your tax sale/certificate investing career on
counties a close drive from you, or on one or two
adjacent states with systems that interest you.
- Our Tool Kit. The Tool Kit segment of this

guide provides a wealth of Internet links and tips that
will help you connect with state and county tax officials
and sites, easing the road into huge profits!
- Halls of Knowledge. Spend a little time in the

local law library. Look for state statutes on conducting
tax sales. Takes some notes, or even photocopy them to
refer to at the drop of a hat! Due diligence is like an
apple a day. It can keep the losses and lawyers away!
- Drop In. Visit the county and municipal tax

authorities in the off-season, months before any tax
sales they might be holding. Ask questions! Get
familiar with their local customs and practices.
- TIME AND DATE OF THE SALE
- Statutory Requirements. Generally, state and

county tax offices must publicly announce tax sales. In
practice, lists of properties or certificates can be posted
in public places around the county as well, or just
pinned to the tax officials office door.
- Newspaper Announcements. Generally, tax

officials are required to take out newspaper
advertisements announcing properties defaulting on
property taxes, along with the actual date and time of
the sale.
- Early Bird has More Time to Locate Property.

If you spend time at the tax officials office, chances
are, you can acquire some information regarding the
properties or certificates up for sale BEFORE most of
the investors, who just look for the newspaper ads.
This head start can translate into valuable property
research time, especially in large or more populated
counties with big numbers of properties on the block.
Remember, more knowledge = potentially more profit!
- READING THE LISTING Know how to read the

list when you get it.
- Street Address. The basics. A particular listing

might read as follows: 9299 Briarcliff Road, currently
owned by David and Kathy Crawford. This type of
listing is straightforward and easy to read, but not as
specific as the other listing systems were about to
explore.
- Tax Property ID Number. An extended

numbering method. Each interior number has a specific
meaning. For example, with this number
345-365-1995-150-43386
The individual separate numbers might mean:
345 General area of town
365 Subdivision or neighborhood
1995 Year the number was assigned

150 Type of property (like an apartment complex or
single family home)
43386 Unique identification number for that piece of

real property
This system makes your job much simpler if youre

looking for a specific type of property. For example, if
you were looking for unimproved land (lets say thats
code 150), you could just scan the listings for all the
150 properties, and ignore the rest. Similarly, if
youre interested only in a certain area, just look at the
345 tax book map.
- Legal Description. Another method used by tax

officials to list properties is the use of a legal
description. Deed registrars often catalogue legal
description listings in an index, called the
grantor/grantee index, of their local office. Heres a
typical listing: the property owned by Chad and
Margaret Hennings as conveyed to them by Deed
recorded on September 10, 1945 in Volume 177, Page
313 of the official deed records of Johnson County,
Kansas. Lots of lingo, huh? Lets break it down:
Chad and Margaret Hennings are the property owners of
record. Theyll be the ones who are delinquent on their
property taxes, and among the possible redeemers of the
property.
September 10, 1945 is the date they took possession of

the deed to the property.
Volume 177, Page 313 of the official deed records of

Johnson County, Kansas. These numbers locate the
property in the county tax map books, where youll
probably be able to locate the street address of the
property.
THE PROCEDURE; SOME NO-NOS
Remember the Point? Youre trying to acquire the BEST PROPERTY.

You can only discover the BEST PROPERTY by evaluating the parcels
yourself. Bidding at a tax sale, or even buying certificates over-the-
counter, for property you have never seen before, is a recipe for disaster.
Environmental problems, neighborhood considerations (a beautiful single-

family home plopped down next to a slaughterhouse, for example),
occupied properties, all of these conditions and many more can lessen your
ability to acquire a piece of property at a FANTASTIC PROFIT for a
MY LIST OF NO-NOS:
Environmental Issues.
If an environmental problem exists, YOU ARE STILL

LIABLE TO CLEAN UP THE LAND. Much money will be
lost in the clean-up, and youre fantastic profit may turn into a
painful loss.
The problem here is that you cant know this without a

professional inspection, but you cant get a professional
inspection until you own the land! All you can do is be on the
look-out for tip-offs that may indicate environmental issues
with the property. Avoid the following:
Underground Storage.
Any property that contains or once used underground

storage.
Industrial Past.
Any type of property which used to be used for

industrial purposes, including farmland.
Demolition Land.
Any property that once had any sort of structure on it,

even if the busted-up building has been removed.
The Dump.
Any property used as an illegal dump (i.e., cars,

washing machines, etc dropped off by local residents
who have nowhere else to dispose of them).
Wasteland.
Dwarf trees and blasted areas even in the summer may

indicate an environmental problem.
Smelly Neighbors.
If the property is next door or near obvious

environmental hazards (gas station, dry cleaning firm,
etc.).
Not In My Back Yarders.

Everybody knows that there are facilities very important
to the functioning of a town or city. Everybody also
knows that they dont want to live next door to them!
Avoid properties nestled near the following:
Industrial Plants, Factories, Sewer Treatment Plants,

Mines and Mining Operations, Rendering/Meat
Processing Plants, Mental Hospitals, Alcoholism/Drug
Rehab Centers, Prisons and Jails, Recycling Centers,
Chemical Plants, Homeless Shelters, Airports,
Shipyards, Nuclear Power Plants, Warehouse Districts,
Railroad Yards, Homeless Shelters
I Already Live/Work Here.
If someone occupies the property, commercial or

residential, its much more likely to be redeemed.
Phony Improvements.
Just because a tax certificate says a parcel of property is

improved by a residence or other improvement doesnt
mean the certificate is still telling the truth! Check the
property before you acquire the certificate!
Underwater Investing.
Acquiring properties near wetlands or on flood plains is

risky business. Its also very difficult to get insurance
on land the federal government recognizes as flood
plain. Take a pass.
THE PROCEDURE: THE RULE OF THE PAN
Heres your own personal prospectors pan. You need some way to narrow
your prospects down to a manageable number of properties, on which you
can really focus your attention, and that increase your chances of making
FANTASTIC PROFITS on a TINY INVESTMENT for LITTLE OR NO
RISK!
GOLD RUSH CHECKLIST
- OWNERS The essential information you need to

discover is the location of the owner. How likely are they to
redeem the property? If the owner is dead, on the lam from
the Feds, or has given up all material issues and is living in a
monastery on a mountain in Tibet, the likelihood of
redemption is slim. If the owner is just taking an extended
vacation in the Bahamas, the likelihood of redemption
increases quite a bit.
- SALE DATE There are some good hints here. You
may have a better chance of acquiring a house last sold in
1930 than one sold last year. Although, why would the owner
with huge cash reserves not pay his/her taxes? Is there some
information there that you need?
- SALE PRICE You can get this information from any

real estate agent. The house that sold in 1930 for $4,500 may
have an owner that doesnt exist anymore.
- IMPROVED PROPERTY Improved properties are

easier to check out/inspect than raw land. Improved property
comes de facto with sewage disposal, zoning, probably wont
flood in the middle of your first night in it, etc. Raw land
carries a bit more risk.
- BUILDING PERMITS Similarly, if work has

already been done to ready raw land for subdivision or
construction, it has quite a bit more value than land without
that work. Difficult to discover, but good to know if you can
find out about them.
- APPRAISED VALUE MATCH-UP Does the

appraised value of the property match up with other properties
in the area? If it doesnt, you should discover the reason. If
you do your due diligence with regard to appraised values in
the area, you can locate the properties that just dont smell
right. A low appraised value in a high-rent area can be very
dangerous.
- ZONING What a lovely meadow across from your

new property! Too bad you didnt now its zoned to become a
new water reclamation plant for the city! Check out zoning
around the property youre examining, not only for the
property itself.
- NEW DEVELOPMENT New construction projects

in run-down areas may be a signal that appraised values and
commercial traffic through may be getting ready to jump
through the roof! Do your homework, get the low-down of
new zoning from the local zoning board, read the papers for
stories about rezoning or redevelopment, and you could find
some amazing opportunities!
- TRANSPORTATION ACCESS Location, location,

location. How close is the property to interstates, bus routes,
hard roads in rural areas? Is it close enough to be
convenient, so whoever lives in the house can jump on the
highway to get to work downtown? Conversely, is the house
directly underneath an underpass or next door to the elevated
train stop?
SECTION 3: _________________________
THE PAYOFF: STEVES STRATEGY SECRETS
SECRET 1 - RURAL SALES

Smaller counties can be the gateway to larger profits, especially if youre
buying tax certificates direct, but also if you are participating in a public
oral bid tax sale.
Public Oral Bid Tax Sale. Its that simple math again. Big Cities
equals more people. Smaller Towns equals fewer people. Far from
the population centers, you tend to find not as many people
interested in tax liens and the profits that can be made from them.
Buying Direct. If there are fewer people at local tax sales in smaller
counties, it stands to reason that more tax certificates will not be
sold. If a tax certificate isnt sold at the annual tax sale, the county
or state usually buys it, and it sits in the tax office. And if there are
more deals on good property waiting for you out in the smaller
counties, my advice is get in your car and get on the road right away!
SECRET 2 - TAX CERTIFICATES IN LOW INTEREST STATES
Valuable low interest tax certificates are more likely to be for sale after tax
sales. Buy over-the-counter and reduce the redemption period!
SECRET 3 - LOCATING TAX CERTFICATES LEAST LIKELY TO

BE REDEEMED
FLAG 1 ABANDONMENT
No permanent resident means the property may be less likely

to be redeemed!
FLAG 2 ABANDONMENT BY LENDER OR NO LENDER
Lender doesnt want it anymore. This is not a very likely

scenario, and since lenders can redeem properties, be careful!
FLAG 3 FREE AND CLEAR
Free of any mortgages or other liens. No pesky banks around

to redeem the property!
FLAG 4 INHERITANCE
Inherited properties can be forgotten, discarded, or ignored!
FLAG 5 UNDELIVERABLE
Mail returned from a property owner the post office cant find can
be a good sign the property wont be redeemed!
SECRET 4 FRIENDLY LOCAL CONTACTS
The people who tend to know most about tax certificates and the properties
they encumber are local tax officials, the people who sit behind the desks in
the county tax offices. A friendly working relationship with them can help
you immensely!
SECTION 4: _________________________
THE FINAL WORD
The field of tax lien investing can offer amazing opportunities for HUGE
PROFIT for a TINY INVESTMENT at LITTLE OR NO RISK! Im
telling you from personal experience, real estate is hands-down the way to
go!
It is important to realize, however, that a thorough knowledge of local tax

laws and customs, plus doing your due diligence and using a healthy dose
of common sense, are VITAL to a successful journey into the world of real
estate tax lien investing!
Youve also got to remember that I am NOT a tax attorney and you should
strongly consider consulting with a licensed real estate tax professional
before you commit any money to investments. Im sharing all of this
information with you just based on my own personal experience, in an
effort to help you find the same amazing success that I have in real estate.
Thanks for purchasing FORTUNES IN REAL ESTATE TAXES!. I

truly believe that if you follow the advice Ive given you throughout this
eBook, your chances of seeing significant profits for a small investment at
little or no risk will SKYROCKET!
If I see you at the tax sales, or more likely, buying certificates over-the-
counter, be sure to say hello!
_____________________
_____________________
-THE TOOLKIT-
_____________________
THE TOOLS YOU

NEED TO GET GOING!
Links, Sample Letters, Addresses, and More
_____________________
So, youve got all this information and knowledge now you need some
tools to get to work! Ive organized the Toolkit into two sections; the first
section has a bunch of real-world examples (such as copies of tax
certificates) and other more immediately-useable items (such as form
letters). In the second section, Ive given you a listing of contact
information for all the states, organized by the type of tax sales
opportunities that they offer.
Pick up these tools and start getting your own FORTUNES IN REAL
ESTATE TAXES
_____________________
INSIDER TAX LIEN LINKS

The Best of The Best On The Net!
_____________________
In the state by state listing, I gave you links to a variety of specific state
organizations that have access to whos paid up on their property taxes and
who hasnt (so where you can find tax lien investment opportunities)
But Ive spent a lot of time on the Internet researching all kind of tax sales
and specialized sites, and Ive collected some of the best links available
with regard to helping you conquer the world of tax liens.
Here are some of the best ones out there, with a short description of how
they may be able to help you find success!
http://www.investorsnet.com/taxliens/tlcs-
rc/index.html
This is one of the most helpful Internet sites, because it lists where to find
out about tax lien auctions, including who to contact, county by county
for all 50 states!
http://www.naco.org/affils/st_assoc.cfm
These guys maintain a list of county-related organizations, along with
usually the most up-to-date person in charge of their given county. Other
pages on this site provide good information as well.
http://www.taxsales.net/list.htm
Want a place where you can buy a list of tax liens available for purchase?
This site has a pretty good system available that makes it easy. Just follow
the instructions on the page. There is a small charge, but typically its a
good deal relative to what you might pay elsewhere. Theres also some
good information on the home page of this site, such as current interest and
government penalty rates for a lot of the states.
http://www.taxsales.com/counties.htm
The same site as the one above also has a very handy listing of links that
connect to a huge bunch of county tax entities if youd like to track down
the contact points yourself. You can literally find information on tax sales
in any county in the country!
http://www.real-estate-public-
records.com/RE_property_liens.htm
Unlike many of the other Internet sites that want to charge you for tax lien
information, this one is geared toward the professional. It doesnt mean that
its hard to find what you want just the opposite. And yes, you do have to
pay for a lien, but you get it more quickly and efficiently than at some of
the other sites.
http://www.taxlienuniversity.com/tlu_studycenter3.ht
m
This link is sponsored by a company that sells tax lien information, but you
can find listings of some specific tax lien auction dates here, and theyre
FREE! Usually its just listings in Florida, but they update the listings
every so often so its worth checking back every so often. There are also
some free reports offered, but beware that some you have to pay for by
becoming a member!
http://www.sba.gov/yourgovt/counties.html
This site is a government run site that has a huge listing of counties state by
state. If you want to find a certain county in a certain state, this is a good
place to start.
http://www.lienlawonline.com
Here youll find forms, up-to-date laws, and more information on liens,
providing helpful information you may need in the tax lien business.
http://www.internetauctionlist.com
This site has a lot of different auctions listed, some of which cover real
estate and tax lien related auctions. Youll have to browse the current
listing to see which ones will have tax lien opportunities (and very possibly
other good investment opportunities) but theyre in there!
http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/link/link.html
This is a government sponsored page click on whatever state you want to

check out, and from there youll find lots more local and statewide links for
tax and property-related information.
http://www.taxliens.com
Run by Brian Lee and Mark Steffan, this site is a place to get tax lien
information and make contacts, as well as list, buy and sell tax liens. They
offer monthly tax lien auctions. They recently created a new site,
www.taxdeeds.com for buyers and sellers of tax foreclosure real estate.
http://www.NTLAinfo.org
If you are already a tax lien investor you may be interested in the trade
association of the tax lien industry, the National Tax Lien Association.
This is their official site. This is also a good place to research the tax
lien laws and legislative developments in each state
http://www.delphi.com tax lien forum
This is a good place to meet in cyberspace with other tax lien

investors, get questions answered, and generally "hang." They have chat
rooms and a freewheeling exchange of info. Still growing and developing
http://www.courthousedirect.com
An online source for real estate due diligence research and you can also
purchase copies of liens here.
THE EASIEST TAX LIEN INFO SOURCE AROUND

IS THE SEARCH ENGINES!!!
(www.google.com, www.yahoo.com, etc.)
Imagine what life would be like without the Internet you wouldnt even
be able to read this eBook! Even worse, youd have to spend lots of time
and money making phone calls to find out about tax lien sales. Forget all
that!!! Now we have search engines, and they can really be put to work for
us.
tax lien sale listing

tax lien sale notice
If you plug either of these phrases into any of the major search engines,
such as Google or Yahoo, youre going to get several hundred listings of
specific tax sales that are on the books and due to happen soon. You can
add a state to that search (+ Florida) if you want to try to narrow down the
choices, but this is one of the best ways to get up-to-the-minute leads on
tax lien sales about to happen all across the country.
This may not be rocket science, but youd be surprised by how many
people have found terrific opportunities in the real estate market just
simply doing research through the search engines!
AND THE BEST TAX
LAW LINKS
In the state by state listing above, I included links to the IRS help-related
sites for tax laws of all kinds. But here are some sites more specifically
geared toward tax lien law. Again, this is where you do some of that
famous due diligence weve been talking about, but all the information you
need is right here!
http://www.ntlainfo.org/
This is a critically important site, as it offers the best information on tax

sale and tax lien laws, in a state by state listing. Most of the states have
related articles that you can select, as well as links to helpful sites and the
state legislatures. In some cases you have to look through a list of tax
related articles to find the one about tax lien law (or whatever lien-related
info youre looking for) but in general if you have questions on any states
tax lien laws, this is the place to go. By the way, skip the flash intro as soon
as that option is available go right to the state statutes option.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/state_statutes.html
This site offers free law information thats very good, but you need to dig
down a bit to get to it. On the page that comes up from this link, click on
the Property option. That takes you to a page with a large listing of more
topics, and it should actually take you to the large Property section that
shows many links to states. When you click on a particular state, most of
the states sites have a search option, and you should use that and search on
tax lien laws or the equivalent. You might see a tax lien link right away,
but most of these sites are still too broad at this point. Search on tax lien
law or the equivalent for the most effective way of finding out specific
law information, but be forewarned that this information is the real tax
law stuff, so its kind of technical.
http://www.findlaw.com/11stategov/index.html
A great resource for state law related information, with a law crawler
option that gives you all sorts of searching possibilities. This link takes you
right to the list of states if you click on any of the states, youll find tons
of links and choices for each state, which can lead you to tax lien info etc.
http://www.llrx.com/guide-gen/2/562.html
This site is somewhat helpful, in that it restates a bit about tax liens (what
they are), and then also suggests some resources that would point you
toward specific county tax laws. Several of these are only available in print
or by paying online (Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest). Its got a good
selection of law-related links with regard to states, so its worth knowing
about.
http://www.lienlawonline.com/index.asp
This is a pay to join site, but if you really want the most comprehensive,
one-stop shop of lien laws, this is the place to go. A lot of these laws apply
to other liens (mechanics, etc.) so dont figure that everything pertains to
the real estate side of things. Frankly, Id instead use one of the state links
Ive given you already, and research it on your own from there, but you
may be making so much money in real estate that an easy-reference option
is worth any amount of money!
_____________________
STATE BY STATE
CONTACT
INFORMATION
The Best of The Best On The Net!
_____________________
If only there was a Web site or something that listed every tax sale
opportunity state by state, county by county that would be a huge data
base that constantly changed and literally had millions of pieces of
information, but it sure would be nice!!!
No, one of the first steps to tracking down fantastic real estate deals is to
drill down to the county level, first by contacting the state agencies in
charge of counties, and then the tax collection or tax administration people
that collect and administer the taxes.
What Ive done is collected as much specific contact information for each
of the states as I could, and organized it by the type of tax sales that each
state offers. This way you can decide which opportunities you think are
most interesting (based on what you learned in Books One and Two), and
contact the state/county that is the best fit for you. For those states that
offer more than one type of tax sale, I include it in the first category in
which its listed.
The links and site addresses can and do change, but these are the ones most
up-to-date based on my research as of today. If they do change the site
addresses or contact information, the agencies themselves are supposed to
redirect you to the correct address.
Take these contact addresses and get started down your own road to
success!
SECTION 1:
Public Oral Bid Foreclosure Auction or Deed
Tax Sale States
Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New
Mexico, New York (in some cases), North Carolina, Ohio (in
some cases), Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
ARKANSAS
ADDRESS:
Commissioner of State Lands
109 State Capital
Little Rock, AR 72201
PHONE: 501-324-9222
FAX: 501-324-9421
WEB SITE: http://www.state.ar.us/land/land.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.ark.org/dfa/
NUMBER OF COUNTIES: 75
COMMENTS: You can be added to the states mailing list of
delinquent taxes and properties to be sold if you contact them at the
above address or through their Web site. The mailing list is free, so
why not let them know youre out there!
CALIFORNIA
ADDRESS:
Office of State Controller-Division of Collections
P.O. Box 942850
Sacramento, CA 94250
PHONE: (916) 445-2636

WEB SITE: http://www.sco.ca.gov/eo/contact/contactgen.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.ftb.ca.gov/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S):
http://www.sco.ca.gov/col/taxinfo/tcs/pubauctions/index.htm
http://www.cacttc.org
COMMENTS: Last I checked you can obtain a list of contacts for
all California counties by contacting these people:
California Association of County Treasurers and Tax Collectors
c/o Wagerman Associates, Inc.
1029 J Street, Suite 340
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: (916) 441-1851
Fax: (916) 441-6178
FLORIDA
ADDRESS:
Florida Association of Counties (FAC)
P.O. Box 549
Tallahassee, FL 32302
PHONE: (850) 922-4300

FAX: (850) 488-7501
WEB SITE:
http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor/property/taxcollectors.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://sun6.dms.state.fl.us/dor/
http://www.coj.net/tc/dtaxdata.htm
http://www.fl-counties.com/
REDEPMPTION PERIOD: 2 years
COMMENTS: The rate of interest here is 18%. If you want to track
down complete contact information for all counties in Florida, you
can go to: http://www.countygovt.brevard.fl.us/tax/county.htm
IDAHO
ADDRESS:
Idaho Association of Counties (IAC)
700 W. Washington
Box 1623
Boise, ID 83701
PHONE: (208) 345-9126

FAX: (208) 345-0379
WEB SITE: http://www.idcounties.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www2.state.id.us/tax/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.statelocalgov.net/id.htm
COMMENTS: Ada County has its own listing for sales of tax-
deeded/county-owned property. Contact them at: Ada County
Treasurer's Office; P.O. Box 2868; Boise, Idaho 83701
KANSAS
ADDRESS:
Kansas Association of Counties (KAC)
6206 SW 9th Terrace
Topeka, KS 66615-3822
PHONE: (785) 272-2585

FAX: (785) 272-3585
WEB SITE: http://www.kansascounties.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.ink.org/public/kdor/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.statelocalgov.net/ks.htm
http://www.sherrifs.org
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/counties/
http://www.kansastreasurers.org/directory/index.html
COMMENTS: County sheriffs or auctioneers hired by the sheriff
conduct all Kansas tax foreclosure sales. However, you can contact
the Country Treasurer of each county at the site listed above to find
out about future auctions.
NEVADA
ADDRESS:
Nevada Association of Counties
1761 E. College Pkwy. Suite 113
Carson City , NV 89706-7954
PHONE: (702) 455-4323

FAX: (702) 455-5969
WEB SITE: http://www.nvnaco.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.nv.us/tax/
http://www.co.clark.nv.us/
COMMENTS: In order to find more information on foreclosure
auctions in other counties in Nevada, you must contact the office of
the County Treasurer of the county you are looking for.
Unfortunately, at this time, no one site has a list of the websites for
each of these counties.
NEW MEXICO
ADDRESS:
Taxation and Revenue Department
Delinquent Property Tax Division
Pinon Building
1220 St. Francis Drive, 2nd Floor, Room 207
Santa Fe, NM 87501
PHONE: (505) 827-0883
FAX: (505) 827-0879
WEB SITE: http://www.state.nm.us/tax/ptd/delhmpg.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.nm.us/tax/
http://www.state.nm.us/tax/ptd/saleint.htm
http://www.state.nm.us/tax/ptd/delaofin.htm
COMMENTS: Some auctions are not listed on the Scheduled
Public Auction Sales site and can be inquired about by contacting the
Delinquent Property Tax Bureau at (505) 827-0883.
NEW YORK
ADDRESS:
New York Association of Counties (NYAC)
111 Pine Street
Albany, NY 12207
PHONE: (518) 465-1473

FAX: (518) 465-0506
WEB SITE: http://www.nysac.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.tax.state.ny.us/
http://www.nysac.org/nysac/countylinks.html
http://www.nytowns.org
COMMENTS: The rate of interest here is 10%, which isnt great
but if the dollar amount is high enough, it can be a decent return
hey, it beats the stock market more often than not!
NORTH CAROLINA
ADDRESS:
North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC)
P.O. Box 1488
Raleigh, NC 27606-1488
PHONE: (919) 715-2893

FAX: (919) 733-1065
WEB SITE: http://www.ncacc.org/countyinfo.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.dor.state.nc.us/DOR/
http://www.ncacc.org/publications.htm
http://www.statelocalgov.net/nc.htm
COMMENTS: Foreclosure auctions in NC are held at the county
courthouse door (or in cases where the tax unit is not a county seat,
the auction may be held in a city hall,) on any day of the week except
for Sundays and holidays.
OHIO
ADDRESS:
Buckeye State Sheriff's Association (BSSA)
6230 Busch Blvd., Suite 260
Columbus, OH 43229
PHONE: (614) 431-5500

FAX: (614) 431-5665
WEB SITE: http://www.buckeyesheriffs.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.oh.us/tax/
http://www.buckeyesheriffs.org/county%20index.html
COMMENTS: Ohio is another state where County Sheriffs
conduct Tax Delinquent Property auctions. A listing of the Sheriff's
Office in each county is listed at the website above.
PENNSYLVANIA
ADDRESS:
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania
17 North Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1624
PHONE: (717) 232-7554

FAX: (717) 232-2162
WEB SITE: http://www.pacounties.org/counties.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.state.pa.us/
COMMENTS: Each county in Pennsylvania conducts and
schedules its own auctions. For information on auctions in all
Pennsylvania counties, check out the website listed above and
contact the Tax Claim Bureau of each county.
UTAH
ADDRESS:
Utah Association of Counties
5397 South Vine Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84107
PHONE: (801) 265-1331

FAX: (801) 265-9485
WEB SITE: http://www.uacnet.org/directory.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://txdtm01.tax.ex.state.ut.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.uacnet.org/links.html
COMMENTS: Once again, you can find information on all
auctions being conducted in each county in Utah by looking up the
information listed on the above website, where you'll find the name,
address, phone and fax numbers of each County Auditor or
Clerk/Auditor.
VIRGINIA
ADDRESS:
VaCo Services, Inc.
1001 E. Broad Street, Suite LL 20
Richmond, VA. 23219-1928
PHONE: (804) 788-6652

FAX: (804) 788-0083
WEB SITE: http://www.vaco.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.tax.state.va.us/
http://vipnet.org/portal/government/index.htm
COMMENTS: In order to find foreclosure auctions in the state of
Virginia, you must first purchase the VaCo/VML Directory by
contacting VaCo at the address or phone number listed above.
WASHINGTON
ADDRESS:
Washington Association of County Officials (WACO)
206 10th Avenue, SE, Suite 307
Olympia, WA 98501-1311
PHONE: (360) 753-7319

FAX: (360) 753-2842
WEB SITE: http://www.wacounties.org/waco/main.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.wa.gov/DOR/wador.htm
http://www.wacounties.org/waco/adams.html
http://www.wacounties.org/waco/county.map.html
COMMENTS: Check out the websites listed above to find the
County Treasurer of each Washington county. Auction listings can
often be found in newspapers published in the county where the
property is located.
SECTION 2:
Public Oral Bid Auction
Tax Sale States
ALASKA
ADDRESS:
Alaska Municipal League (AML)
217 Second Street, Suite 200
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1267
PHONE: (907) 586-1325

FAX: (907) 463-5480
WEB SITE: http://www.akmunileague.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.revenue.state.ak.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.statelocalgov.net/ak.htm
http://www.dced.state.ak.us/mra/taxing.htm
http://www.agfoa.com/mbr2001.pdf
NUMBER OF COUNTIES: n/a (see comments)
RATE OF INTEREST: (fluctuates)
COMMENTS: Alaska is a little different than the other state.
Instead contacting a county office, you must contact the "Finance
Office" to determine who handles the sale of tax-foreclosed
properties in each municipality of borough.
MAINE
ADDRESS:
Maine State Property Tax Division
14 Edison Drive
Augusta, Maine 04332
PHONE: (207) 287-2011

FAX: (207) 287-6396
WEB SITE:
http://www.state.me.us/revenue/propertytax/homepage.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://janus.state.me.us/revenue/
http://www.state.me.us/living/cities/index/html
http://www.statelocalgov.net/me.html
http://www.naco.org/counties/counties/state.cfm?state=me
COMMENTS: For information on foreclosure auctions in Maine,
contact the Tax Collector's office of each city or town.
MINNESOTA
ADDRESS:
Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC)
125 Charles Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55103-2108
PHONE: (651) 224-3344

FAX: (651) 224-6540
WEB SITE: http://www.mncounties.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/
http://www.mncounties.org/Publications/publicat.htm
http://www.statelocalgov.net/mn.htm
COMMENTS: Properties in Minnesota are sold to the highest
bidder but not for less than what the value the property was
appraised at; that kind of does a number on getting a super killer deal
sometimes, so you have to be wary in Minnesota.
OREGON
ADDRESS:
Association of Oregon Counties (AOC)
1201 Court Street NE
P.O. Box 12729
Salem, OR 97309
PHONE: (503) 585-8351

FAX: (503) 373-7876
WEB SITE: http://www.aocweb.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.dor.state.or.us/
http://www.aocweb.org/Cnty-links-frm.htm
http://www.aocweb.org/J-C-Roster.htm
COMMENTS: Notice of auctions are also published in newspapers
based out of the same county in which the properties are located.
WISCONSIN
ADDRESS:
Wisconsin Counties Association (WCA)
100 River Place, Suite 101
Monona, WI 53719
PHONE: (608) 224-5330 or 1-800-922-1993

FAX: (608) 224-5325
WEB SITE: http://www.wicounties.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.dor.state.wi.us/
http://www.wicounties.org/Interactive/countylinks.html
COMMENTS: County Clerks or Treasurers are often in charge of
tax delinquent property so for more information, contact the County
Treasurer's Office in each county.
SECTION 3:
Public Oral Bid Tax Certificate Tax Sale States
Essentially, Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana,

Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming. California, New
Hampshire, Ohio, and New York allow tax certificate sales, but
theyre not universal.
ALABAMA
ADDRESS:
Department of Revenue-Property Tax Division
50 N. Ripley
Montgomery Alabama 36132-7210
PHONE: (334) 242-1525

WEB SITE: http://www.ador.state.al.us/advaloren/statemap.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.ador.state.al.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.acca-online.org/
http://www.statelocalgov.net/al.htm
http://www.ador.state.al.us/advalorem/sections/land.htm
COMMENTS: Tax sales in Alabama are generally held in the
month of May, and the rate of interest is 6% which is quite low.
ARIZONA
ADDRESS:
Arizona Association of Counties (AACo)
1910 W. Jefferson, Suite 1
Phoenix, AZ 85009
PHONE: (602) 252-6563

FAX: (602) 254-0969
WEB SITE: http://www.azcounties.org/AACo/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.az.us/dor/
http://www.azcounties.org/AACo/public.html
http://www.governet.net/CSA/index.cfm?loc=links
COMMENTS: "Tax Lien Sales" are held every February in each
Arizona county. The tax rate is a healthy 16%.
COLORADO
ADDRESS:
Colorado Counties, Inc. (CCI)
1700 Broadway, Suite 1510
Denver, CO 80290-1501
PHONE: (303) 861-4076

WEB SITE: http://www.ccionline.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/revenue_dir/home_rev.html
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.ccionline.org/links.htm
http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/countygovs.html
COMMENTS: A 3 year period of redemption may scare some
investors off, but again, if the carrot is attractive enough, you might
want to stick it out and go for it. I like a faster turnaround than that
myself, but wouldnt ignore any opportunities if they were
interesting enough.
ILLINOIS
ADDRESS:
Illinois Department of Revenue

Willard Ice Building
101 W. Jefferson
Springfield, IL 62702
WEB SITE: http://www.revenue.state.il.us/

TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.revenue.state.il.us/
http://www.naco.org/counties/counties/state.cfm?state=il
http://www.statelocalgov.net/il.htm
http://www.ilcma.org/
http://www.outfitters.com/illinois/searchcity.html
REDEPMPTION PERIOD: 2.5 years
COMMENTS: Check out the sites above to find the office of the
County Treasurer in each Illinois county for information on current
auctions. With an 18%+ interest rate, Illinois is quite attractive to the
investor.
INDIANA
ADDRESS:
Association of Indiana Counties, Inc.
10 W. Market Street, Suite 1060
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2986
PHONE: (317) 684-3710

FAX: (317) 684-3713
WEB SITE: http://www.indianacounties.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.ai.org/dor/
http://www.indianacounties.org/publications.htm
http://www.indianacounties.org/textcounties.htm
http://www.statelocalgov.net/in.htm
REDEPMPTION PERIOD: 1 year
COMMENTS: AIC sells a directory of names, addresses, phone
and fax numbers of County Treasurers and other officials. Here the
interest rate changes depending on several variables, but the range of
10-25% makes it attractive.
IOWA
ADDRESS:
Iowa State Association of Counties
501 SW 7th St., Ste. Q
Des Moines, IA 50309-4540
PHONE: (515) 244-7181

FAX: (515) 244-6397
WEB SITE: http://www.iowacounties.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.state.ia.us/government/drf/index.html
http://www.iowacounties.org/NewLinksPage.htm
http://www.statelocalgov.net/ia.htm
REDEPMPTION PERIOD: 1.75 years
COMMENTS: The interest rate is very high (24%), making it very
attractive to investors. Remember that others too know the interest
rate is a good one, so sometimes the tax lien opportunities are a little
more competitive here exactly because the potential for bigger
profits is so high.
KENTUCKY
ADDRESS:
National Sheriff's Association (NSA)
1450 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314-3490
PHONE: (703) 836-7827 Extension 335 (publications section)

WEB SITE: http://www.sheriffs.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/revenue/
http://www.sheriffs.org/directory.htm
http://www.sheriffs.org/links_across_us.htm#Kentucky
http://www.statelocalgov.net/ky.htm
COMMENTS: Kentucky is another state in which the Sheriff's
office of each county conducts the delinquent property auctions.
Contact information for each county can be found on the links above.
The interest rate here is a mid-level 12%.
MARYLAND
ADDRESS:
Maryland Association of Counties
169 Conduit Street
Annapolis, MD. 21401
PHONE: (410) 269-0043
FAX: (410) 268-1775
WEB SITE: http://www.mdcounties.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.comp.state.md.us/
http://www.statelocalgov.net/md.htm
http://www.mdcounties.org/link/link.html
REDEPMPTION PERIOD: 2-6 months
COMMENTS: Contact the county tax collector at the Department
of Finance for each of the Maryland counties.
MICHIGAN
ADDRESS:
Michigan Association of Counties (MAC)
935 Washington Avenue
Lansing, MI 48906
PHONE: (517) 372-5374 or 1-800-258-1152

FAX: (517) 482-4599
WEB SITE: http://www.miaco.org/index2.html
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.treas.state.mi.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.miaco.org/counties.html
http://www.statelocalgov.net/mi.htm
RATE OF INTEREST:
REDEPMPTION PERIOD: 12-18 months
COMMENTS: Auctions in Michigan are conducted from July to
September of every year, in each county. Here, the rate of interest
also varies due to several different reasons, but the range is a
whopping 15-50%! Imagine the payoff on 50%! Again, watch for
more competition here, and make sure to do your due diligence.
MISSISSIPPI
ADDRESS:
Mississippi Secretary of State
Public Lands Division
401 Mississippi Street
Jackson, MS 39205-0136
PHONE: (601) 359-6373

FAX: (601) 359-1461
WEB SITE: http://www.sos.state.ms.us/msos/sec-of-statex.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.treasury.state.ms.us/
http://www.sos.state.ms.us/msos/tax-lands.htm
http://www.statelocalgov.net/ms.htm
COMMENTS: Sales of Land for Taxes auctions are held the last
Monday in August in each Mississippi county. The rate of interest is
a solid 17% here.
MISSOURI
ADDRESS:
Missouri Association of Counties
516 East Capitol Avenue
Jefferson City, MO 65102-0234
PHONE: 573-634-2120
FAX: 573-634-3549
WEB SITE: http://www.mocounties.com
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://dor.state.mo.us/
http://www.mocounties.com/county_links.htm
COMMENTS: Contact the County Collector or Collector of
Revenue in each Mississippi county for information on auctions. The
interest rate is 10% for tax sales, which isnt great.
MONTANA
ADDRESS:
Montana Association of Counties
2715 Skyway Drive
Helena, MT 59602-1213
PHONE: (406) 442-5209

FAX: (406) 442-5238
WEB SITE: http://www.discoveringmontana.com/maco
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.mt.us/revenue/#tax-
help
http://www.discoveringmontana.com/maco/page12.html
COMMENTS: Sales at auctions go to highest bidder but must sell
for at least 70% of the appraised value, which reduces your chances
of getting a screaming deal to a certain degree.
NEBRASKA
ADDRESS:
Nebraska Association of County Officials
Mayfair Building
625 South 14th Street, Suite A
Lincoln, NE 68508-2793
PHONE: (402) 434-5660

FAX: (402) 434-5673
WEB SITE: http://www.nacone.org/county_web.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.nol.org/home/NDR/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://nacone.org/pubs.htm
COMMENTS: Contact the County Treasurer of each county for
information on auctions held in Nebraska. Usually, these auctions
are held annually on the first Monday of March. The rate of interest
here is 14%; not bad, not great.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
ADDRESS:
New Hampshire Association of Counties
c/o The Dupont Group
114 N. Main Street, Suite 401
Concord, NH 03301
PHONE: (603) 224-9222

FAX: (603) 228-0713
WEB SITE: http://www.nhcounties.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.state.nh.us/revenue/revenue.htm
http://www.state.nh.us/living/tax.html
COMMENTS: The tax collector for each city conducts the auctions
of tax-deeded property. The website above has a listing of all
municipalities conducting these auctions, and the rate of interest is
18%.
NEW JERSEY
ADDRESS:
New Jersey Association of Counties
150 West State Street
Trenton , NJ 08608
PHONE: (609) 394-3467

FAX: (609) 989-8567
WEB SITE: http://www.njac.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/index.html
http://www.njslom.org
http://www.cityconnections.com//muni/muniview.html
COMMENTS: Each municipality conducts its own sale. The rate
of interest is 18%, but includes a variable rate on top of that of 2-6%
which can make for attractive deals.
NORTH DAKOTA
ADDRESS:
North Dakota Association of County Officials (NDACo)
P.O. Box 877
Bismarck, ND 58502-0877
PHONE: (701) 328-9800

FAX: (701) 328-9808
WEB SITE: http://www.ndaco.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.nd.us/taxdpt/index.html
http://www.ndaco.org/nd_counties/county.asp
http://www.discovernd.com/government/county.html
COMMENTS: Contact the County Auditor of each North Dakota
county for further information on auctions. The rate of interest in
North Dakota is 9-12%, depending on several different variables.
OKLAHOMA
ADDRESS:
Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma
429 NE 50th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
PHONE: (405) 524-3200

FAX: (405) 524-3700
WEB SITE: http://www.okacco.com/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.oktax.state.ok.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.okacco.com/related.htm
COMMENTS: In Oklahoma, the rate of interest is a modest 8%, not
making for a very interesting opportunity on that side of things.
SOUTH CAROLINA
ADDRESS:
South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC)
1919 Thurmond Mall
Columbia, SC 29201
PHONE: (803) 252-7255

FAX: (803) 252-0379
WEB SITE: http://www.sccounties.org/index.htm
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.dor.state.sc.us/
http://www.sccounties.org/counties.htm
COMMENTS: The highest bidder of each property is automatically
given the deed to that property, which is excellent! The rate of
interest though is 8% so you really want to aim to get the property,
not just the return on a redeemed lien.
SOUTH DAKOTA
ADDRESS:
South Dakota Association of County Officials
306 E Capitol Ave.
Pierre, SD 57501
PHONE: (605) 224-4554

FAX: (605) 224-4833
WEB SITE: http://www.sdcounties.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.state.sd.us/state/executive/revenue/revenue.html
http://www.state.sd.us/state/govern.cfm
http://www.taxsites.com/states/southdakota.html
COMMENTS: Auction in South Dakota are held annually on the
third Monday in December. The rate of interest is an okay 12%.
VERMONT
ADDRESS:
Vermont League of Cities & Towns
89 Main Street, Suite 4

Montpelier, Vermont 05602-2948
PHONE: (802) 229-9111

FAX: (802) 229-2211
WEB SITE: http://www.vlct.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.vt.us/tax/
http://www.ohwy.com/vt/v/vtcounty.htm
COMMENTS: The Town Collector of Tax directs the auction for
each city of town. Check out the website above for listings of city
homepages in Vermont. The rate of interest varies here, between 6
and 12%
WYOMING
ADDRESS:
Wyoming County Commissioners Association (WCCA)
409 W 24th Street
Cheyenne, WY 82003
PHONE: (307) 632-5409

FAX: (307) 632-6533
WEB SITE: http://www.wyo-wcca.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://revenue.state.wy.us/
http://www.wyo-wcca.org/members.htm
http://www.wyo-wcca.org/url.htm
COMMENTS: The County Commissioner of each county directs
auctions in each Wyoming county from late July to early September.
If more than one person bids on a property, the winner of the auction
is determined by a random drawing. That makes for a chancy deal,
but entertaining if nothing else! The rate of interest is a very solid
18%.
See earlier listings for:

California, New York, and Ohio
SECTION 4:
Refer to listings above for:

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland,
Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
South Dakota, and Wyoming.
SECTION 5:
The Rest of the States
CONNECTICUT
ADDRESS:
Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM)
900 Chapel Street, 9th Floor
New Haven, CT 06510
PHONE: 203-498-3000
FAX: 203-562-6314
WEB SITE: http://www.ccm-ct.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.ct.us/drs/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.statelocalgov.net/ct.htm
http://www.ccm-ct.org/pubs/index.html
COMMENTS: As with many other states, municipalities in
Connecticut collect property taxes and sell property on which the
taxes are delinquent.
DELAWARE
ADDRESS:
Delaware Association of Counties
12 North Washington Avenue
Lewes , DE 19958-1806
PHONE: (302) 645-0432

FAX: (302) 645-2232
WEB SITE: http://www.co.kent.de.us/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.de.us/revenue/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.co.new-castle.de.us/
http://www.co.sussexcounty.net/
COMMENTS: Delaware only has three counties. The websites for
each of these counties are found above.
GEORGIA
ADDRESS:
Association of County Commissioners
50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 1000
Atlanta GA 30303
PHONE: (404) 522-5022 or 800-858-2224

FAX: (404) 525-2477
WEB SITE: http://www.accg.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www2.state.ga.us/Departments/DOR/
http://www.statelocalgov.net/ga.htm
http://www.sheriffs.org
http://www.georgiasheriffs.org/sheriffdir.html
REDEMPTION PERIOD: 1 year
COMMENTS: Auctions in Georgia are held at the county
courthouse, in each county, on the first Tuesday of the month. The
rate of interest is a modest 10%.
HAWAII
ADDRESS:
Hawaii State Association of Counties
4396 Rice Street
Lihue, Kauai , HI 96766
PHONE: (808) 547-7001

FAX: (808) 566-1184
WEB SITE: http://www.hawaii-county.com/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.hi.us/tax/tax.html
http://www.co.honolulu.hi.us/agencies.htm
http://www.co.hawaii-county.com/real_property_tax/rpt_main.htm
http://www.kauaigov.org/treasury.htm/
http://www.co.maui.hi.us/boards/property/taxdiv.html
COMMENTS: Information on auctions being held in each of
Hawaii's four counties can be found on the websites listed above.
LOUISIANA
ADDRESS:
Louisiana Municipal Association (LMA)
P.O. Box 4327
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
PHONE: 225-344-5001
FAX: 225-334-3057
WEB SITE: http://lamunis.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.rev.state.la.us/
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.statelocalgov.net/la.htm
http://www.lsa.org/Sheriffs_Directory/Sheriffs_Search
NUMBER OF PARISHES: 64
REDEMPTION PERIOD: 3 years
COMMENTS: The rate of interest here is 17% which makes it
pretty interesting to tax investors.
MASSACHUSETTS
ADDRESS:
Massachusetts Municipal Association (MAA)
60 Temple Place
Boston, MA 02111
PHONE: 617-426-7272 or 1-800-822-1498 (MA only)

FAX: 617-695-1314
WEB SITE: http://www.mma.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/dor/dorpg.htm
http://www.mma.org/links/city_town_web_pages.html
http://www.mgfoa.org
REDEMPTION PERIOD: 2.5 years
COMMENTS: As with many other states, municipalities in
Massachusetts collect property taxes and sell property on which the
taxes are delinquent. The interest rate is 14-16%.
RHODE ISLAND
ADDRESS:
Office of the Rhode Island General Treasurer
State House, Room 102
Providence, RI 02903
PHONE: (401) 222-2397

FAX: (401) 222-6140
WEB SITE: http://www.state.ri.us
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.doa.state.ri.us/tax/
http://www.naco.org/counties/counties/state.cfm?state=ri
REDEMPTION PERIOD: 1 year
COMMENTS: As with many other states, municipalities in Rhode
Island collect property taxes and sell property on which the taxes are
delinquent. The rate of interest is a variable 6-18% which can be
marginal or good, depending on the situation.
TENNESSEE
ADDRESS:
Tennessee County Services Association
226 Capitol Boulevard
Suite 700
Nashville, TN 37219-1803
PHONE: (615) 532-3767

FAX: (615) 532-3769
WEB SITE: http://www.tncounties.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.tn.us/revenue/
http://www.comptroller.state.tn.us/proptax.htm
http://170.142.31.248/HowToSearch.asp
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/main/citizen/community/
COMMENTS:
TEXAS
ADDRESS:
Texas Association of Counties
PO Box 2131
Austin , TX 78768
PHONE: (512) 478-8753

FAX: (512) 478-0519
WEB SITE: http://www.county.org/
TAX HELP WEB SITE:
http://www.cpa.state.tx.us/m23taxes.html
OTHER HELPFUL SITE(S): http://www.taao.org/index.html
http://www.taap.org/links.html#Texas
http://www.county.org/TXcounties/copgs.html
COMMENTS: In some Texas counties, private law firms manage
tax sale auctions, so keep an eye out for that.
WEST VIRGINIA
ADDRESS:
West Virginia Association of Counties (WVACo)
2211 Washington East Street
Charleston, WV 25311-2218
PHONE: 304-346-0591
FAX: 304-346-0592
WEB SITE: http://www.wvcounties.org
TAX HELP WEB SITE: http://www.state.wv.us/taxrev/
http://www.sherrifs.org/directory.htm
http://www.wvcounties.org/map-frameset.html
http://www.wvauditor.com
RATE OF INTEREST: 12%
COMMENTS: Auctions in West Virginia are held annually
between October 14 and November 23.
_____________________
TAX CERTIFICATE
STATES CHART
Another Quick-Reference Guide
_____________________
Here is a list of the states that (primarily) use the public oral bid tax
certificate sale system (and in some cases, the buy direct system as
well). Keep in mind that you might actually make more money in states
with lower interest rates, because long-term tax cert investors will be less
interested in certificates with lower rates of return, so there are potentially
more properties available.
Ive listed some basic information on these states to help you get a clearer
of picture of the options, but be aware that these interest rates and periods
of redemption can change with changes in state and even county law. You
need to do you due diligence to make sure that the numbers havent
changed. Also, the bidding processes can vary a lot as well; I listed the
most common bidding processes, but several states use other processes too,
so you need to check with the states themselves (use one of the several tax
lien law links or the county links to research this) to find out exactly what
systems the county in which you are working uses. Also, go back to my
Tax Sale Report Card and compare this information to the grades given
there, so you dont waste time on whats obviously not a good state for the
type of investment you are interested in.
State Rate of Period of Most common

Interest % Redemption bidding process
Alabama 6 3 Bidding up
Arizona 16 3 Bidding down
Colorado 12 3 Bidding up
Connecticut 18 1 Bidding up
Delaware 15-20 1 Bidding up
DC 1.5/month .5 Bidding up
Florida 18 2 Bidding down
Georgia 10 1 Bidding up
Hawaii 12 1 Bidding up
Illinois 18+ 2.5 Bidding down
Indiana 10-25 1 Bidding up
Iowa 24 .75 - 1.75 Bidding down
Kentucky 12 3 First come, first served
Louisiana 17 3 Bidding down
Maryland 6-24 .5 Bidding up
Massachusetts 14-16 2.5 Bidding down
Michigan 15-50 1-1.5 Bidding down
Mississippi 17 2 Bidding up
Missouri 10 2 Bidding up
Montana 10 3 First come, first served
Nebraska 14 3 Bidding down
New Hampshire 18 2 Bidding down
New Jersey 18 +2-6 2 Bidding down
New York 10 2 Bidding up
North Dakota 9-12 3 Bidding up
Ohio 18 1 Bidding down
Oklahoma 8 2 Bidding up
Rhode Island 6-18 1 Bidding down
South Carolina 8-12 1 Bidding up
South Dakota 12 4 Bidding down
Tennessee 10 1 Bidding up
Texas 25-50 .5-2 Bidding up
Vermont 6-12 1 Bidding up
West Virginia 12 1 Bidding up
Wyoming 18 4 First come, first served
_____________________
CONTACT LETTERS
A Few Samples That Might Be Helpful
_____________________
How do you find out about when and where tax lien sales are going to take
place? Well, either you get on the Internet and check out some of the links I
provided in the link section. Or, go straight to the state and county that you
think has the best potential for your tax lien investment strategy, and contact
them through their Web site, phone, or mailing address.
If you decide to mail them, what should you ask about? Here are a few
sample form letters to help you get going on collecting information about
when and where tax lien sales may be taking place.
You may want to rewrite these to put your own personal touch on them, but
they will give you some basic ideas about what to ask. Just fill in the address
from the state listing and fire away!
[YOUR NAME]
[ADDRESS]
[CITY/STATE/ZIP]
[PHONE]
[DATE]
Office of the Tax Collector

[COUNTY] County Courthouse
[ADDRESS]
[CITY/STATE/ZIP]
Re: List of Delinquent Taxes
Dear Sir or Madam:
Im interested in obtaining a copy of a list of the properties that are

delinquent for non-payment of property taxes in your area of jurisdiction.
If you could please inform me of the cost of a copy of that list, and in what
format(s) it may be available (computer disc, print, etc.), I would very
much appreciate it.
If the list is not available through your office, please let me know from
whom it may be obtained.
This request is made pursuant to the public records statutes of [STATE].
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR NAME]
[ADDRESS]
[CITY/STATE/ZIP]
[PHONE]
[DATE]
Office of the Tax Collector

[COUNTY] County Courthouse
[ADDRESS]
[CITY/STATE/ZIP]
Re: Mailing List For Real Estate Sales for Delinquent Taxes
Dear Sir or Madam:
Im interested in having my name placed on your list to receive all notices

regarding sale of real estate for non-payment of property taxes (public and
private sales).
Also, if you could let me know which month you normally hold the annual
tax sale in your jurisdiction for property which is delinquent for non-
payment of taxes, I would appreciate it.
Finally; approximately how many parcels of real estate are usually offered
for sale each year at the tax sales in your jurisdiction?
Thanks very much for your help.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
_____________________
SAMPLE TAX
CERTIFICATE
See What The Real Thing Looks Like
_____________________
I thought you might want to see what a real tax certificate looks like, so I
included a photo of one here. Needless to say they vary state to state, but you
can get an idea of what were talking about here.
[STEVE INCLUDE JPEG OR PHOTO OF TAX CERTIFICATE]

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Real Estate For

Copyright 2002 by Steve Maletos. All rights reserved.

Chapter One: Basic Terms................................................................... 2

Chapter Three: The Recap .................................................................. 57

Chapter One: The Dream Sale ............................................................ 2

CONCLUSION: Quick Reference & Final Thoughts

Section One: Quick-Reference Guide The Basics........................... 2

Insider Tax Lien Links ......................................................................... 2

Wishing I had a way to make serious money without huge risks, or

So lets get you started down this exciting new road

A Tax Lien Opportunity A Quick Overview

A Tax Lien Opportunity

1. You find a property that has back taxes owed on it

3. Now one of two things will happen:

A. the owner defaults on the taxes and the property is in foreclosure,

Now see why tax liens are such a great opportunity???

Common Reasons That A Tax Sale Opportunity

Suppose an elderly owner passes away, with no heirs or relatives. The

Sometimes a property owner might contract a serious physical or mental

JUST PLAIN FORGOTTEN

MISTAKES BY THE TAX AUTHORITIES

Yes, local governments have been known to make paperwork errorsnot

Other courses pretending to offer a straight-talking take on real estate tax

Unfortunately, theres no English in your dictionary it claims to be a

For example, possibly sell it AT A GIGANTICALLY REDUCED RATE

Dictionaries define it as the care that a reasonable person exercises under

Public Oral Bid

Some things to expect at a typical foreclosure auction tax sale:

Low Opening Bid:

Great Equity Opportunities:

PUBLIC ORAL BID FORECLOSURE AUCTION

Free and Clear.

STEVES FINAL GRADE: A-

Public Oral Bid Auction

To find out why, lets break down the language again.

PUBLIC ORAL BID AUCTION REPORT

PROS AND CONS

Free and Clear.

Higher Opening Bid.

STEVES FINAL GRADE: C-

Public Oral Bid Tax

A TAX CERTIFICATE is evidence, or a license if you want to look at it

Now heres the best part

There are two different ways to buy tax certificates:

1. Buying tax certificates through auction at a public oral bid tax

2. Buying tax certificates direct from the local officials

1. BUYING TAX CERTIFICATES AT ORAL BID TAX SALES

Bidding Down Interest.

Each state sets a maximum interest rate permitted on tax lien

In any case, one method of bidding for a tax certificate is

Bidding Down The Price

You and Jimmy Not-So-Smart are interested in the tax

The research youve done has revealed that the propertys

At a tax sale in a tiny county seat in a mountainous part of

Not-So-Smart Jimmy and Impulsive Rhonda, however, get

However, if even a year later, the property owner redeems his

Bidding Down Percentage Ownership

The bidding process in these states proceeds with the bidders

(a) the permission of the foreclosed-out owner

In any case, tenancy-in-common of a piece of property gained

PUBLIC ORAL BID TAX CERTIFICATE SALES REPORT

Many states offer absolutely astonishing rates of return on tax