Delinquent Tax Sales
Hi Bigger Pockets! Anyone familiar with Harris County Delinquent Tax Sales in the Houston area? Is there REI opportunities at these auctions? Are the auctions pretty competitive? Any experiences or advice on this is much appreciated!
Hey Stephen, I have been to a tax sale auction once and was able to acquire a property. It is competitive, with a lot of people walking around with bags of cash. When you go you should have your money ready and do some DD before. There will be multiple auctions going on at the same time so you have to run back and forth to submit bids/offers. You bid by raising your number and yelling your offer price. The precinct constables are the auctioneers. Bring a binder with property notes, Cause # you want to bid on, and the maximum you are willing to go.
Side note: confirm with your title company they will do redemption tax properties. Some title co's don't like dealing with them.
Good luck!
The tax sale auctions are very competitive in all the metro areas in Texas. The values seem to be in the smaller areas. For full listings for the whole state check our www.txtaxsales.com. Questions answered about Texas tax sales at no charge.
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@Stephen Daniel Pace There can be opportunities, but it is a fair amount of work weeding thru the properties to find the gems from the trash. Then another process to acquire them at the right price that makes sense. Most of the properties need a fair amount of work, and in most cases you don't want to do the work before 2 years when you can get title insurance for resale.
I always suggest...get the list....do your research....go to the sale, not to buy, but to watch. They have them every month in Harris county. See what people bid compared to what you would pay. There used to be a lady that would do a brief class beforehand if you get there early. Sorry I can't remember her name. She had some youtube videos at one time. Talk to people to see why they bought a property you were interested in and why they paid X amount.
Plenty of people at the sales who have no clue.....last month at a sale I saw multiple bidders, bidding on lots that are in the flood plain, have no access to water or sewer. Too small for septic permits. City swears they will not issue permits to build or access to water/sewer. Not sure what the intensions of the buyers were, but probably they were buying lots with no value to me. I guess you could haul in water and put a garden on them.
You will likely see 100s of people at Harris County, so yes, typically very competitive.
Get there early....learn the rules...read the paperwork...network network network....ask lots of questions of the people there and find the experts...to learn more.
Quote from @Bruce Lynn:
@Stephen Daniel Pace There can be opportunities, but it is a fair amount of work weeding thru the properties to find the gems from the trash. Then another process to acquire them at the right price that makes sense. Most of the properties need a fair amount of work, and in most cases you don't want to do the work before 2 years when you can get title insurance for resale.
I always suggest...get the list....do your research....go to the sale, not to buy, but to watch. They have them every month in Harris county. See what people bid compared to what you would pay. There used to be a lady that would do a brief class beforehand if you get there early. Sorry I can't remember her name. She had some youtube videos at one time. Talk to people to see why they bought a property you were interested in and why they paid X amount.
Plenty of people at the sales who have no clue.....last month at a sale I saw multiple bidders, bidding on lots that are in the flood plain, have no access to water or sewer. Too small for septic permits. City swears they will not issue permits to build or access to water/sewer. Not sure what the intensions of the buyers were, but probably they were buying lots with no value to me. I guess you could haul in water and put a garden on them.
You will likely see 100s of people at Harris County, so yes, typically very competitive.
Get there early....learn the rules...read the paperwork...network network network....ask lots of questions of the people there and find the experts...to learn more.
It’s always interesting when you do your due diligence and you know a property is a dud (I call them land mines). There is always a few clueless new people who step on them.
Sometimes I get asked questions by new people who have no clue how it works before the tax sale starts. Always entertaining to see them bidding a few mins later.
Hi Stephen,
I'm going to the tax sale next week as well. First time! I've done quite a bit of research on the process and homes and hope to snag one. Let me know if you'd like to network while there. Good Luck to you!
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@Stephen Daniel Pace Going to the sale next week? Have you done your research?
Quote from @Tia Wilson:
Hi Stephen,
I'm going to the tax sale next week as well. First time! I've done quite a bit of research on the process and homes and hope to snag one. Let me know if you'd like to network while there. Good Luck to you!
Hey @Tia Wilson I’m not planning to go this month but I’d still like to connect to see how your experience was and what success you had. I’ll message you!
Quote from @Bruce Lynn:
@Stephen Daniel Pace Going to the sale next week? Have you done your research?
Hi @Bruce Lynn I'm not going this week but still looking into this as a way to get into REI.