How to Read a Tax Lien Sales List
Homeowners can keep up with their mortgage payments but still lose their property on unpaid taxes. Local governments can foreclose on or take title to the delinquent properties and sell them at auctions, where the minimum bid is often set at the total amount of unpaid taxes on the property. At the auction, properties are sold site unseen, but the listing of properties containing important information about each parcel and instructions for paying for it and claiming title to it should be published in advance.
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Instructions
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Contact your local town or city hall to inquire about the process, schedule and locations for annual tax sales. A clerk or recording agency can tell you if your town or city does its own sale, or if it's part of a county-wide sale. If the sale is coming up within a few weeks, a listing of the properties should be available with the entity that's holding the sale. You may have to register in advance if you want to participate in the auction.
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Visit the government entity that is holding the same and ask to see the list of properties. Often, a county treasurer is in charge of the sale even though other departments, like town chamberlains or assessors, also play a role in the foreclosure process. A listing of the properties with pictures might be posted in a lobby to publicize the sale and provide better public access for that information. The information might also be available online.
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Read the listings for some or all of the following information: Address, size of parcel, square-footage of the home or building, year built, zoning designation, assessed value minimum bid price, other fees that will be assigned to the winning bidder. The rules for payment might be posted for each listing, or on the bottom of each page. There might also be a dated statement from the county treasurer with plenty of legal speak noting that the proper steps were taken to commence the foreclosure, and that a county governing board authorized this action.
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Tips & Warnings
Check with the county clerk's office to see if there are any liens on the property. That information probably would not be included in the listings compiled by the treasurer's office.
If possible, consult an attorney before making a purchase.
Be aware that these properties are foreclosed on by the local government, not a bank or mortgage company. There may be issues with title and title insurance, and a lender may also lay claim to the property. There is no guarantee that the government entity that sells the property will have every issue cleared up before the property is sold; there are many provisions in real estate law that leave any type of foreclosure proceeding open to argument.
According to Netro Online real estate information data base, it is important to be clear if you are purchasing the "right to collect past due taxes," or if you will actually own the deed and the land after the sale.
