California Tax Deed Sales

[Leo B.]

Question on CA tax deed sales.  If you purchase a property in a California tax deed sale, do all liens get wiped out upon sale of the property at the auction?

How do you perform your due diligence prior to purchase of at a tax deed sale?  Besides liens, what else do you look for?

[Carol Venolia]

Hi Leo,

You're entering an E-ticket ride! Your first question is easy to answer: Any government lien seems to stick, so you need to research whether those exist. I look for that info at the County Recorder's office.

Your due diligence question... There's a lot to look for, and you'll want to come up with a system for doing so. I could write a book. But fortunately, there's a DVD. You may want to check it out at www.larryweingarten.com/store; scroll down to the Tax Deed Deals video, and have a blast!

The tricky part that it took me a few auctions to catch on to is timing your due diligence. If you research properties after an auction is announced, you'll find that most of them have been withdrawn by the time the auction takes place. It's great to wait until the auction begins (if it's a multi-day auction, like most on **********), but then you have a lot of work to do in a short time--and many auctions last 4 days spanning a weekend, which makes it tough to use government or business resources. So you gotta play that line carefully.

Happy to answer other specific questions! Best of luck!