Does anyone know how to purchase tax overages listing from Alaska? I live in San Francisco.

I don't know about the rest of Alaska but in Anchorage we don't have tax overages. We are a tax deed state and when the property is sold at auction, if there is a balance, it is forwarded to the previous owner of the property, or the bank, whichever is entitled to the money.

I think East Coast / South West is good for Tax Lien. I have never invested myself but keep looking for online auction.

@Roy Schauer I of course don't know your area, but I doubt it really works like that. Generally someone must actually apply for the overage, either as an owner or a lien holder, within a certain amount of time, usually 60 days or so.. The clerk, or the courts, then decide who is actually entitled to the surplus, and what amounts. The county can't simply send the overage to a mortgagee on file, because for one thing they have no idea how much they are owed at the current time. And I have no idea if there are any redemption periods.

I agree, they can't seen the overage to the past owner, especially if they don't live there any longer. They might send a letter.

Thanks anyway, guys!

@Wayne Brooks I'm not exactly sure of the actual process but when I had looked at getting into doing overages locally, I went to the tax assessment office in person and the supervisor there explained to me that they don't have a tax overage list because they don't hold onto the money, assuming there is any overage. She said they usually notify the previous owner there is a balance after the taxes are paid and a check is usually cut. She also told me they get lots of people coming in to ask about it after some local guru program has been through the area. If it's unclaimed, then I'm sure it's remanded to the state to hold as unclaimed property but Alaska does have a statute that caps the percentage of finders fee to be charged when handling transactions of that nature.

If you learn of something different, please share, but that is the knowledge I turned up from the fruits of my research. I am not all knowing but have found that Alaska does have some unusual methods for doing things compared to other states.

From my research, Alaska does have tax sale surplus. And can collect tax sale overages within six months, after it it barred forever.

@Roy Schauer That could make sense when there are no liens. Many states now limit the fee the "treasure hunters" can collect from an owner's surplus, due to them routinely clipping the owners for 50%. Here it's 12%.

@Gena Gonzales , I don't know about the AK overages, but I hadn't seen you posting much before, and wanted to say hello, as an investor from the East Bay.. Do you invest in SF at all? We have a few others who do, who I can introduce you to if you're interested. I host a meetup in Oakland every month. Send me your email if you're interested in coming out.

I'll also be organizing a Massive Real Estate Investor Summit in the SF Bay around October of this year if you're interested.. post here!

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/521/topics/126194-massive-re-investor-summit--sf-bay-area-oct-2014?page=1#p830027

@Gena Gonzales

There will always be people who are owed money from the tax sale that can't be located or are deceased.

However, the number is fewer than you would expect; as a practical matter most properties have debts on them including the back taxes, mortgages, judgments, liens, mechanics liens, Federal tax liens, and municipal liens for water, sewer and trash.

Even at the sales where liens are wiped out, they usually do a title search and give back money to people and entities owed the money.

I'll give you a real example here. I went to a tax sale recently where there were about 2,500 properties on the list. Of these exactly 4 had overages. 3 were estates. The 4th one the overages were paid to creditors and the overage was eaten up. 2 of the estates claimed their money so far and there is one hanging out there that has been resolved yet, but I expect that it will be shortly.

How do I possibly know that, you may ask?

The county does send out letters, after doing a title search, to the former owners and the lien holders. Sometimes the addresses are not current even for the banks. There was one case last year where the lien holder was Chase. Their letter went to the address of a closed branch and was returned to the county, unforwarded, even though Chase had another open branch in the same small town.

Here they county is to make an effort to locate the former owner and the lien holders, but here's what helps them along. In the case of the 3 recent overages and in the case of the Chase overage, the high bidder did research to determine the lien holder or owner, by the title search that they did before the sale and contacted the former owner & lien holder and said,

"There is money that the county is holding for you, here's how to get it and in exchange I want you to sign a Quit Claim Deed to the property for me."

So the high bidder is working in essence for the county to get the money to the former owners & lien holders in exchange for a clear title. And since title companies don't want to issue title insurance on tax sales here, if the high bidder has any chance of flipping the property quickly or even selling it, they need the clear title to proceed.

Therefore in the recent case where there were 2,500 properties on the tax sale list there were only 4 overages and 3 have been liquidated, and the 4th is in process, so there will be no overages left from that recent sale.

That's not to say there are never overages, sometimes people or heirs can't be located. But usually the bidders paying the highest prices at the sale are the more knowledgeable and experienced and know what to do after the sale to clear the title and proceed to re-sale expeditiously. Of the 2 estate properties cited above, deed were recorded in December from the sale and by February (or within 60 days) the high bidders not only rehabbed the properties, marketed the properties on the MLS, but also sold and settled on the properties with new end use buyer. You can't work that efficiently here without clear title. Just the clearing the title filings and answer periods can take 4-6 months, all the time burning your money.

Here's the numbers on the 3 estate properties:

#1 High bid $50,000, overage $33,000, resold after rehab $154,000

#2 High bid $35,000, overage $24,000, title not cleared yet

#3 High bid $59,000, overage $46,000, resold after rehab $140,000 FHA, 2 DOM

@David Krulac so all the websites that I have found that sales tax overages/excess process are junk? They are not true leads?

One was $4.99 for 3 year old leads, some were $57.97 that were 6 months old. They show the amount owned to them. I guess finding the is the hard part, with these different sites, should I keep away from?

@J Martin

I do not invest in SF, too expensive for me. Thank you.

@Gena Gonzales

We don't use websites with "overage" lists, we actually go to the tax sale and see live as it happens, an overage being born. Its such a beautiful sight. ( as opposed to a beautiful site.)

@David Krula

Do I have to go to the sale? Can't I just buy the leads?

You can buy leads, but as I said they are fewer than you think. The other problem is that they are old, and if they receipent has been located, SOME of them may be deceased or unlocatable.

Its a needle in the haystack kind of business and you can make money, but it does take time, and research and is not as easy as some will have you believe.

If I wanted to do this business, I would do it on my own, do my own research and locate people in a high income area like you San Fran

If you want to spend the money on a guru or listings, be careful don't spend a ton of money, start small try it out and see if you like it and it is a productive use of your time and energy.

One of the reasons that there were so few overages at the sales I went to was that most of the properties that did sell sold for the minimum bid, therefore no overage. Some other properties sold for just over the minimum bid and there were no overages on those either.

The overage business is a business.

If anyone thinks that they are going to sit at a computer and click their way to a living, they're in for a frustrating, disappointing experience. There are some serious competitors working overages as I've observed from both sides of the game. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from trying, only attempting to paint a realistic picture of what's required to succeed.

After sifting and sorting through the tax sales (in this play) and tagging the properties that actually went to sale and generated a surplus, you'll (hopefully) have a list of funds due owners. Now the fun begins.

You then need to locate and convince these former owners that you can help them do what they could do themselves for a percentage (or similar arrangement). Locating can be tough, especially if they're homeless, infirm or deceased.

Since dead people don't sign documents (except in fraud cases), you've then got to find the heirs, perhaps open a formal probate if the funds are large enough to require (as I've done) and deal with all the moving parts.

I've made some serious money with overages however, it's not a reliable income stream and not a primary source. I've watched a few friends do well with overages, however they seem to like the research and stealthiness aspects of the business and pay days come in chunks.

Chasing overages are really tough even when you are the one to rightfully receive the overage. And nothing happens fast but I enjoy to pain so I do chase them on occasion (mainly link to a probate).

@Rick H. as you know....

And it used to be a lot easier also.

We used to be able to go to the Dept. of Transportation and get a copy of drivers licenses, which of course have addresses, as well as DOB.

We even got non-driving ids from the DOT.

We used to get new postal addresses from the PO for $1 each.

We used to get birth and death certificates from the Bureau of Vital Statistics.

We used to be able to get letters to prisoners.

We used to be able to inquire if a senior citizen was a resident of a specific nursing/retirement home

"USED TO" is the key phrase. All of those sources have been eliminated due to stalking, privacy, and identity theft.

I have even called the postmaster in small towns and asked about people who moved and their forwarding had expired. The postmasters several times helped me locate people who were owed overages. BTW, I used to call the post office, per mapquest/GPS and ask how to get to a house that had a RR, rural route address. I was always given great directions.

@Wayne Brooks   I have had a hard time locating the Florida fee limit being at 12%. I read the statute on Florida tax law but was unsuccessful in locating that information. Could you point me in the right direction so I can see actual documentation on fee limits for Florida please?

Google Fl tax sales surplus, Florida statutes 2012 or later, or contact your county tax deed dept.

@Rick H.   Are you still in the business or have you moved on to other ventures?

@Brian Watkins  - I'm still in business. 

I'll work Delinquent/defaulted tax properties or overage deals that are referred to me if they're profitable and interesting. 

The fact you still are involved in the business is encouraging @Rick H. .... I hear a lot of "Guru's" saying it can be done from the "comfort of your home". I don't believe them at all. I don't mind the leg work and honestly if it were sooo easy everyone would be doing it. Could you refer to me any good training courses? I viewed a Rick Dawson webinar and I wasn't too impressed. He made it seems too easy. A red flag went up while listening to him. Then I watched a guy named Shawn Buige. He clearly said its not a simple as sitting at home. You actually have to go out and hit the courts, look up records and do some research which sounds more truthful to me. I'm sure you have plenty insight. Do you mind sharing a little with us (me) so I can make a better determination on which training program to go with? Thanks!

Hey @Brian Watkins

Did u buy any of Shawn Biuge programs ? i just wanna know if anyone has tried him before and i searched his name and there is nothing about him except on ur comment

he sound legitimate but the fact there is no one head of him makes me more spectacle