OTC tax deeds info ?

[Will Sifert]

Is there a list of which states offer OTC tax deeds?

I have no experience with OTC, they are not offered in my state. In Louisiana, any property that is not sold at the annual property tax sale will be adjudicated to the parish. After 5 years the properties are offered via auction to the public. The majority of parishes in Louisiana use civic source to list all of the available adjudicated properties and conduct the online auctions.

My understanding of OTC tax deeds, you buy them directly from the county without having to compete with anyone else or go through an auction. (That sounds much better.) Our adjudicated auctions start at the amount owed and then are bid up from there. Who ever bids the highest amount wins the auction. Many times the amount bid is close to or equal to retail value, which in my opinion is crazy because you can not inspect the property beforehand and the properties are still affected negatively when it comes to title insurance. We do have company that writes title insurance on the adjudicated properties but its a small company and the vast majority of the larger, mainstream companies wont write on them in most circumstances.  IMO, the bidding shouldn't go over 50-60% of the retail value, but in most auctions the bidding goes over 90% of retail value. 

[John Underwood]

The problem with most OTC tax liens or deeds is that a room full of people at the main auction didn't want these. So they are usually not any good.