I was thinking about going through the property people have lost for not paying taxes?

Question

I was thinking about going through the property people have lost for not paying taxes, has anyone ever done this? Here in Jefferson County Mo if it hasn't been bought in 3 years then there is a list. Does anyone know if I can find that online? And has anyone ever had experience doing this?

Answer 1

Dear AS: I have done this in two states and it is worth while exploring. They are called tax liens and your best source is your county tax collector/assessor. Their are rules and it would pay to first get an education about the rules in your county/state.

Generally after taxes are delinquent the collector publishes a list of properties available for payment of taxes. You then bid on the properties you are interested in. If you are the successful bidder you get to pay their delinquent taxes and you will be issued a lien on the property. After a period of time (a lot of rules here) you may actually become the owner of this property. The entire process takes several years.

Go to your county tax division and make some friends.

This advice was prepared based on our understanding of the tax law in effect at the time it was written as it applies to the facts that you provided. Click on my profile to read more. Errol Quinn Enrolled Agent

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Answer 2

MO is a tax lien state. You bid on the property by bidding down the interest rate that you will accept. If you win (low bid wins) you get the right to pay off the tax debt and collect the taxes from the property owner, plus interest at the rate that you won your bid with. If the owner does not pay you within the 2 or 3 years that the law provides you then have to foreclose on the tax lien to take possession.

Having looked into these in several MO counties (Jasper, Newton, Christian, Green, and Vernon) one thing became glaringly clear -- the ones that went to public auction were not worth bidding on. If there was a lender involved they simply paid the taxes and attempted recovery under the mortgage contract. If a lender wasn't willing to preserve their interest the property was an absolute dump and not worth owning. And any property where no lender was involved was obviously worth less than the outstanding taxes or the owner would not have let it go. A number of them had been condemned and any subsequent owner would have had to have any buildings torn down and the site cleared.

These can be a good deal for developers who want to gentrify a sagging area but for the average investor they are high risk. The odds of acquiring a livable home on the cheap this way is pretty much zero.

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Answer 3

the counties publish lists of delinquent property owners
this may or may not be on the county web site

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