Tax Liens / Tax Deeds / Redeemable Deeds

West Palm Beach, Florida
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Tax Liens / Tax Deeds / Redeemable Deeds

Justin Weisenbacher
Investor · 28 States · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 8 votes

Hi everyone! Having spent 30 yrs in the institutional specialty finance / real estate space, I'm finally jumping into the BiggerPockets forums. Over the course of my career, I've purchased, serviced, and managed $2B + in delinquent property taxes / deeds / Redeemable Deeds / REO across 28 states.

Tax liens are often misunderstood or oversimplified by late-night seminar gurus, it's not that simple! I'm here to connect with distressed real estate investors as well as share practical insight on distressed real estate investing and of course, share stories! One of my favorites was walking into my office early am having cup of coffee (which was next to the REO dept) and hearing "well, get the dead bodies out and get it boarded" that's when you know you're in the Tax Lien business lol

Looking forward to being an active part of the community— any questions please ask!

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  • Ashish AcharyaBusiness Member
    CPA, CFP®, PFS · Sarasota, FL · Member since 2017 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
    1w

    Justin, welcome to BiggerPockets. Thirty years and $2B+ in delinquent taxes, tax deeds, and redeemable deeds across 28 states is quite a background.

    One thing I'd be interested in hearing more about is what you see investors consistently getting wrong once they move from acquiring the distressed asset into actually owning and operating it.

    From the tax side, I see a similar issue where investors focus heavily on getting the acquisition right but don't think through the basis, rehabilitation, depreciation, holding costs, and eventual exit until much later.

    Given your experience across so many states, I'm curious whether you've seen certain mistakes or misconceptions repeat themselves regardless of the market.

    Happy to connect!

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    • Justin Weisenbacher
      OP
      Investor · 28 States · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 8 votes
      1w

      Institutional Tax Lien investors are arbitrage shops, they do not want the Real Estate however depending upon the state as well as the form of acquisition, i.e. auction Vs bulk sale REO is inevitable. Tax? we are a accrual based accounting, (we under accrue from the statute) tax liens are simple interest not compounding . We under accrue because we had to factor in delays in getting the cash from the municipality 

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  • Ashley RigsbeePro Member
    Customer Success & Onboarding Specialist at BiggerPockets · Charlotte, NC · Member since 2023 · 162 posts · 55 votes
    1w

    Thanks for joining! Thirty years across 28 states is a lot of knowledge. For a beginner, what's the biggest mistake you see investors make with tax deeds?

    BiggerPockets
    1Reply
    • Justin Weisenbacher
      OP
      Investor · 28 States · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 8 votes
      1w

      Hi! You mentioned tax deeds so that in itself is its own business. My advice is stick to your local area where you know the values. You have to buy it right because you don’t know what the inside looks like so just assume it’s trashed. But I’m going to say the single most important thing is knowing the type of title you get and are there liens that have survived the foreclosure process . Remember it’s not insurable title every state differs Florida, for example depending upon the value of the property if it’s high value investors will do a quiet title action to flush out the clouds on title early. if it’s low value, most investors will rent it out, and wait for the time clock to expire (It becomes insurable over time) Just remember who’s doing the tax deed process it’s the municipality and in most cases they’re sloppy. (Bad noticing.

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    • Justin Weisenbacher
      OP
      Investor · 28 States · Member since 2026 · 15 posts · 8 votes
      1w

      Ps one of these days I'm going to post my top 10 REO horror stories lol

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