While many advocates’ groups in Detroit, Michigan are currently engaged in trying to keep real estate investors who purchase large volumes of property in tax lien sales out of the city and preferably away from the auctioneer, Wayne County commissioners endorsed a plan yesterday that is a little more investor-friendly than many of the recent proposals. Under the proposed legislation, any individual or company whose property taxes are more than two years behind cannot participate in tax auctions[1]. Bernard Parker, commissioner who proposed the ban, says that he hopes that …

When property owners fail to pay taxes on their real estate, then the city in which the real estate is located has the option of selling off that property tax lien to the highest bidder. Particularly in these difficult economic times, municipal governments are relying heavily on these tax lien auctions to help bolster budgets that are lean and far in the red. However, in Detroit, many communities are saying that the money that comes into the government budget is not worth the blight on the neighborhoods when it comes …

A county in Georgia is considering adding another factor to property tax collection and to the imposition of property tax liens: rain. In Rockdale County, the board of commissioners is awaiting further information on the proposed idea of adding stormwater collection fees to the list of things that can be placed as liens on properties if left unpaid[1]. Currently, the fees are very difficult to collect from property owners, many of whom “deride it as a ‘rain tax’” or simply move away without paying. Currently, the county has no recourse …

Tax lien investors know that the holder of a mortgage on a tax-lien compromised property can be a friend or a foe. If you are hoping to have your lien redeemed, then a mortgage holder is a friend. After all, they would probably rather pay off your tax lien – with interest and penalties of course – to avoid losing their larger investment in the property. On the other hand, if you are hoping to foreclose on the property, a lender holding a large mortgage can be bad news since …

When properties go to auction to redeem unpaid property taxes, investors have the opportunity to get real bargains on those properties by purchasing unpaid liens. In Detroit, Michigan, however, the delinquent homeowners cashed in on those bargains instead with the help of a nonprofit coalition that purchased $194,000 worth of liens and “saved” 150 homes from the block[1]. The homes were purchased at the tax auction, “in most cases for a fraction of what they owed in back taxes,” thanks to Ted Phillips and his United Community Housing Coalition.
The coalition …

John Rogers, a state representative in Alabama from Birmingham, thinks that the interest rates on Alabama property tax liens are outrageous, and he is making it one of his goals for 2011 to change the process[1]. Currently, Alabama charges a 12 percent interest rate on delinquent property taxes. If the government fails to collect the taxes, then ultimately the liens are sold at auction. During the auction, lien buyers can “overbid” on the liens, paying an excess of what the lien is worth. The new owner of the tax lien …

Purchasing a property via tax deed is a great way to get involved in real estate investing. Unfortunately for a homeowner in New York that has been fighting for his home for almost seven years now, a tax lien paved the way for a Long Island woman to forge his name, take possession of the property and then sell it multiple times to other investors[1]. Garfield Gillings let his tax and water bills slide on his Brooklyn house back in 2003. When he contacted the collection agency that he believed …