How
to Buy Land
at Tax Sales
This
book is written by Lin Stone
ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
FOR THE CREATORS
Originally published by
This
version is Newly revised, updated
and with online links inserted wherever possible.
It has been published in electronic format by Browzer
Books
You Have
Promised NOT TO MAKE COPIES OF THE FILES
EITHER FOR SALE, OR FOR GIVING AWAY.
Chapter 1
Tax Sales are
Your Best Bargains
in Real Estate
The American Dream has always included the
ownership of land. Pioneers like Daniel Boone dreamed of 40 acres to clear
with a salt lick somewhere close.
All David Crockett wanted was a little home in the woods with bear sign on all
four sides.
Henry Thoreau waxed eloquent about a tranquil pond with timeless ripples in the
sunset.
Cowboys saddled up every morning with visions of their own ranch spreading out
before them to the far horizons.
Published by Browzer
Books
Entire contents are copyright
2005 by Tale Wins for Lin
Stone.
Sparkling clean Pennies-on-the-dollar land bargains at the tax sales are your best ticket for winning a real estate empire of your own. The jackpot is full of bargain basement prices! City lots often go as low as $40. Garden Spots for $75. Vacation sites start at $100. It isn't at all unusual for raw acreage to cost even less than $100 per acre. Property with a building on it starts at only $160.
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Pennies-on-the-Dollar Land Bargains That's right! Pennies-on-the-dollar land bargains at the tax sales really are your best ticket for winning a real estate empire of your own. Yet in spite of all these bargains, at every auction there are only a few bidders and lots of bewildered spectators. Why? Because, if you haven't learned to read the scorecard before you get there, you will either: a) never know where the property is, or what the property is, or like a friend of mine; b) you might even buy an island that only comes up to see the light of day once or twice each year! The auctioneer will be going at breakneck speed. "1976, I hear no bid. 1977, I hear no bid. 1978, I hear no bid. 1979.…" It is no wonder that buying land bargains at tax sales is intimidating. But most of those problems consist of confusion, cowardice and just plain misconceptions. "How To"—Not Just "Where To" All the How-To books on the subject I ran across were really WHERE-To books. For page, after page, after page, they are packed with phone numbers and addresses which only told me WHERE to call, and WHERE to write to get in on this kind of landfall. The directions got me to the auction, and dumped me. Like most people, I could not read the bid sheet. Like most people, I did not know where the property up for sale was located. Like some people, I didn't even know WHAT the property was.Fortunately I have never met a man with money that I couldn't like for at least a few minutes. I looked around the room as the bidding went on and picked out several people who did know what they were doing. Two of them became friends that day, several others I got to know over the years. |
With them, I went to pay their taxes. I went to research the mortgages.
I went to the land office. I went to the library. I went to the courthouse. I went through all the steps of locating the property. I took buyers to see it.
These tutors found me an apt pupil. From these associations I learned the mechanics of the entire process. More importantly, I came to understand the strategies of buying. Being completely honest, down to the last penny and up to the highest million was my biggest asset for I was soon acting as a fiduciary agent for my friends, and gradually they let me do more and more of the actual work for them.
I found that buying tax sale land is far more complicated than buying property where a real estate agent handles all the details for you. But knowledge is power; knowledge is money. Repeatedly, property you can get for a few hundred dollars might be sitting right next to property worth $29,000. Collecting this difference in value is your reward for learning the information and strategies I give you here.
You see this book is an outgrowth of solving problems faced in the field. You will find it is short on numbers you can get from the operator, and long on actual examples.
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The truth of the matter is, |
My intention was to create a book with a genuine HOW-to personality, with a built-in program for your success. It is laid out to take with you for on-the-spot help as you go through each step so you can soon be right in there digging in the treasure hunt. And this book will show you how to get in on the action, fast.
Okay, here we go. The first question everyone asks is where do these bargains come from?
Where Do These Bargains Come From?
Each year, the major paper in each county publishes a list of people who have not paid their taxes. People overdue on their taxes for just one year appear on this list. Tax sales are held only on property whereon the taxes have not been paid for at least two years. Indeed, by the time the auction rolls around, most of these property owners are four years behind in fulfilling their tax obligations. Any property sold after letting it be delinquent for up to four years you can assume the owner has abandoned it.
| Most of these properties come from out-of-state owners who have gotten old or otherwise can't take care of their property. There are also people who are no longer interested in holding ownership of family estates, and from those strapped for cash; those folks going on welfare may neglect to pay their taxes just to declare the property out of their name. | How many foreclosures are available in your neighborhood or state right this minute? Click Here to find out for free. |
When that happens the state must auction off the real estate in order to collect the delinquent taxes. If it didn't, a whole lot more of us would soon be neglecting our duty.
Called a TAX SALE (or a SHERIFF SALE in some parts of the country), these sales happen every year, once in each county (some cities) or parish. And by following this program these auctions can make the American Dream affordable for you!
Land ownership is part of the American dream. Nine out of ten adult white males in America enjoyed the privilege of land ownership before 1850. Even today with apartment buildings rising seventeen stories high, forty-seven out of one hundred Americans have pursued the dream of owning real estate property to completion.
The second question everyone asks is: "Are the properties we pay $100 for ever really worth more than the hundred dollars or so we pay for them?"
Are These Bargains Real?
Let's put the facts right up front so we can examine them carefully. First, some property that changes hands at tax sales is such a steal that the media begins screaming bloody murder. (I guess because they didn’t know how to get in on the deals!) I speak most specifically of the incident where the entire Magic Springs Amusement Park of Arkansas was passed into public domain.
Said Charlie Daniels, Arkansas State Land Commissioner at that time: "Most comments received by my staff were incredulous that we would offer a property such as this for sale at such a low price. I can understand the confusion, since most people don’t deal with the issue of delinquent taxes every day."
I repeat, definite, real bargains, exist and actual sales are consummated every year. Before you go rushing off, however, there ARE also properties out there that are not worth even the forty or fifty dollars you put up front! If you aren’t careful you can be buying fence rows, you can be buying property in the middle of the street, or under the bridge, or in the center of some farmer’s field, or buy an island in the river that only sees the light of day twice a year.
Relax.
I've already done most of that and I'll show you how to avoid (most of) them.