Pasadena, MD · Member since 2017 · 9 posts · 0 votes
This will be my first time doing a tax sale auction. In my county's tax sale you send in an excel spreadsheet with your bid amount. Im assuming this means that you cannot see what others are bidding on homes and you could potentially grossly overpay/underpay for a property you are interested in. Is this correct or is there a way to see what the current high bid is on properties during the sale?
Investor · Centreville, VA · Member since 2016 · 109 posts · 65 votes
9y
@Bret Schilling There is no way to see current highest bid, or what others are bidding as the sale progresses. You fill out the spreadsheet, put your highest bid as a real number or percentage of assessed value, submit it and wait. I don't think you can mix and match between those two methods, pick one and move forward. I can't recall if there is a fund limit function, i.e. you only have X to spend, stop awarding certificates if you reach that number.
If you want to see how bidding goes, look for the results of the last year or two. If the results are not listed on the website, give them a call. I've found the Treasurer's office folks to be very helpful.
You picked a tough county for your first auction. The high potential return (18%) brings out all the big guns. You might want to look for a lower return county that does in-person bidding to balance your experience and to have a higher potential for success.
Investor · Centreville, VA · Member since 2016 · 109 posts · 65 votes
9y
@Bret Schilling There is no way to see current highest bid, or what others are bidding as the sale progresses. You fill out the spreadsheet, put your highest bid as a real number or percentage of assessed value, submit it and wait. I don't think you can mix and match between those two methods, pick one and move forward. I can't recall if there is a fund limit function, i.e. you only have X to spend, stop awarding certificates if you reach that number.
If you want to see how bidding goes, look for the results of the last year or two. If the results are not listed on the website, give them a call. I've found the Treasurer's office folks to be very helpful.
You picked a tough county for your first auction. The high potential return (18%) brings out all the big guns. You might want to look for a lower return county that does in-person bidding to balance your experience and to have a higher potential for success.
You cannot see others bids until the auction is over. Look at it this way, If you bid at a number that makes sense for you; you will not be underbidding or overbidding.
We won two liens last year and it looks like we might take both properties. It is tough but small players can be successful here
Arnold, MD · Member since 2017 · 8 posts · 5 votes
8y
@Bret Schilling Did you end up doing the AA county tax sale? I find that large investment companies and hedge funds win most of them. I also believe most of them invest based on assessed value - so they may overpay for vacant rundown home or underpay for homes that haven’t been reassessed lately. Most of them do not want to take possession of the properties; rather, they like the 18% return (who doesn’t?!)
I bought a vacant lot for really cheap (to try out the process) and flipped it to a neighbor of the property.
As far as your question - you get one sealed bid - so bid the max amount that you Feel comfortable width winning. I don’t like that the county now charges $100 to get the chance to bid.