Advice Needed on Finding Tax-Delinquent Vacant Land Owners

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Bryant Brislin
Title Representative · Irvine, CA · Member since 2017 · 874 posts · 519 votes
1y

@Kreg Thornley please know the following, as I've seen this happen a lot in Southern California where I'm based.  A lot of opportunistic investors who don't know how to really analyze land naively assume that every tax delinquent parcel has a situation where the land owner just didn't have enough money to pay the taxes and thus lost the parcel.  But in many cases, at least here in SoCal, it's many times a situation where the land owner essentially abandoned the parcel for reasons like bad zoning, little-to-no access, irregular shape (i.e. triangular) that makes it less efficient, environmental challenges, topography, etc.  Why would a land owner abandon a parcel to the tax collector? Because if not much can be done with it due to the reasons stated above, they don't want to keep paying property taxes, weed abatement/landscaping, have liability/insurance issues, etc et etc.

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  • Taylor Wright
    Member since 2025 · 1 post · 2 votes
    1y

    Look on the Tax deed auction website for the county your looking in or order a list with skip tracing with that criteria from a freelancer on  Fiverr.

    2Reply
  • Kreg Thornley
    OP
    New to Real Estate · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 32 posts · 6 votes
    1y

    Freelance skip tracing. Had not considered that. Thank you!

    0Reply
  • Kreg Thornley
    OP
    New to Real Estate · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 32 posts · 6 votes
    1y
    Quote from @Stephen Morales:
    Quote from @Kreg Thornley:

    Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!


     Hey KC, 

    If you need help finding tax delinquent land owners you can pull up a Tax Liens list for vacant land owners on PrimeTracers and skip trace it directly on our site.

    You get 25 free skip tracing credits on sign up. List building and sign up is free and we don't do subscriptions. 

    Hope this help!

    Will check it out. Thanks!
    1Reply
  • Bryant Brislin
    Title Representative · Irvine, CA · Member since 2017 · 874 posts · 519 votes
    1y

    @Kreg Thornley please know the following, as I've seen this happen a lot in Southern California where I'm based.  A lot of opportunistic investors who don't know how to really analyze land naively assume that every tax delinquent parcel has a situation where the land owner just didn't have enough money to pay the taxes and thus lost the parcel.  But in many cases, at least here in SoCal, it's many times a situation where the land owner essentially abandoned the parcel for reasons like bad zoning, little-to-no access, irregular shape (i.e. triangular) that makes it less efficient, environmental challenges, topography, etc.  Why would a land owner abandon a parcel to the tax collector? Because if not much can be done with it due to the reasons stated above, they don't want to keep paying property taxes, weed abatement/landscaping, have liability/insurance issues, etc et etc.

    2Reply
  • Kreg Thornley
    OP
    New to Real Estate · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 32 posts · 6 votes
    1y

    Good to know and will keep in mind. We are starting close to home for now (near Atlanta and the southeast). We'll do our due diligence. I appreciate the warning for sure.

    0Reply
  • Stephen MoralesBusiness Member
    Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2025 · 402 posts · 205 votes
    1y

    Hey KC,

    If you need help finding tax delinquent land owners you can pull up a Tax Liens list on Property data sites. There are even some free ones if you look around enough :).

    Hope this help!

    [email protected]
    PrimeTracers
    WebsiteView Page
    1Reply
    • Kreg Thornley
      OP
      New to Real Estate · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2015 · 32 posts · 6 votes
      1y

      Thanks!

      0Reply
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