Posts Tagged ‘Due Diligence’

Update to Tax Lien Investing Book Review: “New Edition of The 16% Solution”

Friday, January 8th, 2010

Just after I wrote a review of three of my favorite books about tax lien investing, I got a call asking me if I?d like to review a brand new edition of one of them. A second edition of The 16% Solution, by Joel S. Moskowitz, is now in bookstores and I?ve just finished reading it. It?s been a while (more than 6 years) since I read the original version of this book ? which was somewhat outdated then, so I wasn?t sure just how different the second edition would be from the first. I was pleasantly surprised! With all of the hype and recent infomercials lately touting tax lien investing as a way to get rich quick, this book is very refreshing. Right from the beginning Mr. Moskowitz sets the reader straight, giving honest and straightforward information. I was really impressed with the forward to this second edition where he likened the chances of someone getting a property for pennies on the dollar from a tax lien to someone winning one million dollars from a one-dollar lottery ticket. Yeah it happens every now and then, but it?s not likely. And then he tells you what you can expect from tax lien investing ? ?super-high interest combined with safety.?This book is divided into four sections. In the first section Mr. Moskowitz explains what tax liens are, why they are such a safe investment, and why now, more than ever before you need to include them in your investment plan. At the end of the section he has a chart that shows how tax lien certificates compare to other investments in terms of income and growth potential, risk avoidance, safety, and liquidity. Section 2 talks about how to buy tax lien certificates; how to choose a state and county to invest in and how to choose the properties to buy tax liens on. It also covers bidding at the auction and buying over-the-counter and assignment liens. There is even a chapter on how to get local officials to help you do your due diligence (This doesn?t always work in every county, but it?s certainly worth a try).Section 3 of The 16% Solution talks about how you get paid on a tax lien certificate and how to foreclose on the property. Mr. Moskowitz explains how a tax lien certificate is redeemed, how to foreclose on a tax lien, and what to do with the property once you foreclose on it. Section 4 talks about avoiding and managing risks. Mr. Moskowitz explains just what the risks of tax lien investing are and how to avoid them. That?s something that most tax lien investing ?gurus? never tell you until you give them thousands of dollars for coaching. I recommend that anyone interested in tax lien investing read this book for this section alone. Buy this book and save your thousands for investing in tax liens!Also included in the book are a couple of appendixes with helpful information. In Appendix I there is a chart of state laws for all of the tax lien states. Georgia is included even though it?s technically a redeemable deed state. This chart is a good tool, but remember, just because a state has laws that allow it to have tax lien sales doesn?t mean that they actually have any. There are at least a couple of states on this list that either have only a couple of counties or municipalities that have tax lien sales, or have hardly any properties available in their sales.Appendix II has some more detailed information for 14 of the tax lien states (these are the states that have an interest rate of 16% or higher). Some of these states are covered more thoroughly than others. My guess is that the states that are covered well are the ones that Mr. Moskowitz personally invests in. The states that are covered thoroughly are: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and Iowa. Detailed information on the other states is lacking. If you are investing in one of the above-mentioned states or planning to invest in one of these states I recommend that you purchase this book. Also if you are planning to invest in tax liens on commercial or industrial properties there are helpful forms for avoiding environmental problems in Appendix III.This book is great for beginner investors in tax liens, it does not have information about tax deed investing, but it does have detailed information for 4 of the more popular tax lien states, and one redeemable deed state, plus general information for the other tax lien states. It also discusses investing online and purchasing leftover liens. You can purchase this book at a discount on Amazon at http://budurl.com/vdns.

Joanne Musa works with people who want to build an extremely profitable portfolio of tax lien certificates or tax deeds FAST. She is the author of the Tax Lien Investing Basics system for learning how to invest in tax lien certificates and tax deeds for maximum profit, and founder of Tax Lien Consulting LLC, a consulting company specializing in tax lien investing coaching and education. Go to www.taxlienlady.com for more information about tax lien investing.

Buying Tax Liens Online

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

What if you are really interested in buying tax liens, but you don?t live in a state that has tax lien sales, and you don?t live within driving distance of a state that does sell tax liens? One alternative to buying tax liens at a physical auction is to participate in the online tax sales. Only a few states have tax lien sales online, but fortunately each state that does have online tax sales conducts their sale at a different time of the year. So you can participate in an online tax lien sale somewhere in the United States in almost any season of the year.There are only 5 states that have tax sales online; they are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, and Maryland. Even in those states, not all counties have online tax sales. You can find a list of these counties with links to the tax sale websites, and other details about their tax sales in my ?Guide to Buying Tax Liens Online? on the members area of TaxLienLady.com. The online tax sales are very different in each state, but they do have a few things in common.You need to register for online tax sales days or in some counties weeks ahead of the actual sale. You register for the tax sale and bid on the properties online. You are not actually bidding on the property, but on the tax lien certificate that is being auctioned. These sales usually require a deposit, and some of them have a non-refundable registration fee. Payment for the liens that you are successful bidding on is required within a day or two of the close of the tax sale for tax sales that use wire transfers as the method of payment. For tax sales that use ACH Debit as the method of payment for tax liens, you usually have to pay the day of the close of the tax sale. For these tax sales, you agree before hand to allow the county treasurer to debit your account for the tax liens that you purchase.These counties make it easy for you to register and bid online. The hardest part of buying tax liens online is doing your due diligence for the tax sale properties. Unless you purchase a tax sale list from a tax sale list provider, or in some cases from the county, you don?t always get to see the list of properties that are in the tax sale. Instead the properties are listed individually or in batches by an id number and you have to click on the property number to get the rest of the information on the property. For some counties there is very little information given about the property. This is where buying a detailed or enhanced list, with all of the assessment information for the property can me very helpful.

Joanne Musa works with people who want to build an extremely profitable portfolio of tax lien certificates or tax deeds FAST. You can find out more about buying tax liens online in my Guide to Buying Tax Liens Online. It?s a free bonus for you when you try the members area of TaxLienLady.com. To find out more about the extra bonuses that you get when you try the members area of TaxLienLady.com go to www.TaxLienLady.com/Membership.htm.