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| How to Prepare for a Land Tax Sale |
How to prepare for a Land Tax Sale & Auction
You just read, in the legal section of your local newspaper,
about vacant lots or land parcels for sale. This county sale is
due too uncollected back real estate taxes that are owned to
your local county offices by the current land owner.
If you have never attended a Real Estate Tax sale before, their
is a learning curve on How to Prepare for this land purchasing,
opportunity event.
This is an opportunity, because you can invest in land for sale
at a very small fraction of it's market value. A real buy low
event. However, preparation meeting this opportunity will help
spell success in your new purchase or purchases of land for sale.
PART I
Research your potential land for sale purchase. Many advise
that you do a little title search yourself at the local county
assessors office to look for any title liens or other clouds to
the title within the lands recorded documents. An easier process
is to pay a title company for a Title Binder, which will reveal
any liens or title disputes prior to |
your bidding on any land.
In order to do a search you need what they call a legal
description. Usually this consists of the lot number, block
number and unit number of a named subdivision. For example, lot
1, block 12, unit 3 of the Pacific Subdivision. Obviously this
subdivision is located in your county and state.
In your search, the local county tax is a lien against this
land for sale. This will show on your search or title binder,
but should also show as a dollar amount in back taxes within the
local newspapers legal notice. Other federal back taxes or what
is called mechanics liens may also show. So when the title is
transferred to you or others, these liens need to be paid in
order to pass clear title. If you do not discover these liens,
you will have to pay your bid amount and eventually pay these
other liens before re-marketing the land.
After your title search you need to locate your lot for sale.
If it's located in an existing subdivision, a local street name
and number may suffice. However, much vacant land is located in
the open areas were no |
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development has taken place. In this
case, you need a plat which shows all the lots located in an
existing area. These plats show various lots and street names
and are public information. You can purchase recorded plats at
your county court house or a local mapping service at very
reasonable prices.
When viewing the land for sale, you need to determine if this a
buy now and hold for later sale investment. If not, perhaps you
can purchase now and re-sale immediately for an immediate gain.
In other words, what are your investment goals.
PART II
You have your plat maps, a list of eligible lots or land
parcels for sale that you want to bid on and a "letter of
credit". You need to visit your bank a day or two before the tax
land sale and arrange to have cash available or a letter of
credit showing you have a dollar stated amount in you checking
account. The county wants certified funds or cash in order to
transfer title to you, the new land owner. Assuming you
successfully won the land bid.
You can transfer funds from your savings account or line |
of
credit to your checking account. Make sure you have ample
amounts in order to bid on more than one piece of property for
sale at the land auction.
Remember, the "letter of credit" is essential in order to bid.
The county officials will not just accept you personal checks
without this letter. With it, you will receive your bidding
number. Sounds as though you might be prepared now, but a few
other needed elements exist for your success. Elements that we
will review in the Last Part of this article.
THE LAST PART
The last needed elements for succesful bidding on Tax land for
sale can be found at http://sell-land.com/ads/index.php Visit
for the Last Part of this Article.
About the author:
Mr Rohe has been a licensed Real Estate Broker for over 35
years.
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