Please anyone with the time to give detailed instructions on this, it would be appreciated. I'm abought to start looking into buying property for the price of the back taxes, what is a few good first steps for someone just starting out(has not made one purchase yet). What's the cheapest you have seen real estate go for?

Most states the county property tax office has a yearly auction of these properties, After they are two to three years behind they will be placed up for auction. The starting bid will be the tax due.

Now in some states you get a tax deed the day of the sale, In other states you will get a tax certificate that you have to hold for 1 to 3 years, that allow the prevous owner time to "redeem" their property, you do get paid a good interest rate if they do redeem.

You have to have cash or an approved cheeck the day of the sale, so there is no time to get loans on the property before you can buy.

So look at what property tax is in your area, what is the tax on a 200,000 home for example, 300 a year, 1000 a year ? 3000 a year, so take what your tax is and assume two or three years tax due, that will be the starting bid. Depending on who is bidding against you, the price may or may not go higher.

If a property does not sell ( not all do) then next year that property may be sold with no starting bid, just to sell for what anyone will pay.

I bought one home ( had a tree sticking though the roof) for about 3000 dollars I bought another one ( had a bum living in it, no air conditioning and had to do a lot of repair) got it for about 5000 dollars

Bought several empty lots for 300 to 1000 dollars.

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Originally Posted by chrislcolwell

Please anyone with the time to give detailed instructions on this, it would be appreciated. I'm abought to start looking into buying property for the price of the back taxes, what is a few good first steps for someone just starting out(has not made one purchase yet). Whats the cheapest you have seen real estate go for?

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Chris,

The best advice? Turn the channel when you see the infomercial where the "guest" says "I bought this beautiful house worth $200,000 for just $279.82". If the owner had it paid off, do you think they would just give it up like that? How about if there was even a $50,000 mortgage on it? The lender would (usually) not allow you to steal it from them for that kind of money...

There is a lot of $$$ that CAN be made from tax lien certificates, etc. but you really need to research it a lot. Do your due diligence and then do it again.

There are a lot of great buys in real estate right now, but you really have to be careful. If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it. Here's a hint: the money is made by controlling real estate, not necessarily by owning it!

Just be careful.

LG