Here is an article from my friend and colleague Dustin Hahn on a very important consideration when it comes to investing in tax deeds or redeemable tax deeds. I realize that some people who read this article are investing in tax deeds online and may be able to able to physically look at the property. If that is the case than I recommend that you have someone look at the property, and even take pictures of the property for you before you bid at the sale. Read this article by Dustin to see why this is so important.
“The Biggest Mistake You Can Make Is To Buy A Tax Deed Without Seeing It!”
A rule of thumb you must live by with tax deeds is “if you cant see it don’t buy it”
Most of the other people who teach tax liens and deeds tell you “look it up on google earth and zoom in!” and that’s all you need to do…..
Wrong!!
For initial research it is ok to look it up on google earth and get a birds eye view of the property. But if you plan on buying it you must get up to date, accurate data. It never fails that when people do all of their Tax Deed Property research on google earth, then bid at the sale and buy the property, they end up owning a pile of junk.
Here’s why; Google earth and most satellite images are at least 6 months old. A lot can happen in 6 months. For example satellite images do not show you if the house has burnt to the ground in the last 6 months or if it’s been flooded or if it’s in a flood plain.
I see this all the time on tax deed houses: The market value could be $100,000 and the
opening bid is $8,000, you show up to the property and it burnt to the ground 3 months
ago. The funny thing is that people pay the ultimate stupid tax when they show up and buy
it because all they did was look it up on google earth.
I don’t want you to make this mistake. Always look at the property as close to the tax deed sale as possible. If you look at the property weeks before the sale there is a good chance it will redeem and you will have wasted your time. Remember most people will wait until the last minute to pay their taxes, that means 80% of the redemptions are going to happen the week before the tax deed sale.
Here is my formula for tax deed sales: Show up to the county two to three days max
before the sale, preferably only two days out. We look at 60 to 100 properties in two days
and on the day of the sale we an expect 30% to 50% of the properties to redeem, so we are left with 30 to 60 properties to bid on. This way we are left with lots of good properties to bid on.
A beginner mistake is to look at the as many properties weeks before the sale. This is a recipe for disaster because most of them will redeem, and you will be wasting your time.
Here’s your assignment. Find a tax deed sale that is close to you and look at the property 2 days before the sale. If you’d like to learn how you can look at 60 to 100 properties in two days check out the training manual at www.taxlienlady.com/DustinHahn.
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