Messages

1

Property Information / Re: Toronto Sale

« on: March 23, 2007, 02:53:20 AM »

475 west mall is not a great area it is okay, used to live in that building years ago and its not a great place(for a condo), there is a lot of subsizeded housing on the east/west mall.  But its okay, lot of small petty crime but nothing to serious.  Most of the toronto properties were redemmed last year--excpet for the ones with the huge crown liens that some poor guy probley bid on wothout doing his due diligence.  I don;t think that there will be any good deals here as the available properties will go close to market value.

My only advice is to wait as close to the sales date as possible to save money on the lien/title searches and if you are serious, then complete all of the required due diligence.  Good luck

2

General / Re: Title Searches

« on: December 10, 2006, 02:13:17 AM »

In the case of title searches Frank is right, being discreet is always key.  However, most lien/title search office are local to the property in question and I have found that most of the clerks in the office are already aware of the tax sale property, these clerks can be quite helpfull usually have some info about the property.  That is the one problem with tax sale properties in cottage country, they are not kept secert for a while and in some cases it is standing room only when the envelopes are opened on auction day.  Usually the egineering/building planning dept all work out of the same office, maybe even sit next to each other.  I

My best advice is to wait as close to the tax sale day as possible before driving in to inspect the property and before doing the title searches, that way, if the sale is cancelled, you did'nt waste your time/money.

3

General / Re: Anyone seen the tax sale property informercial?

« on: December 10, 2006, 01:53:46 AM »

There is some truth to getting houses for nothing in the US via tax sales, but they are not bargains and have been left behind for a reason.  The American real estate market is a lot different than ours, even a few blocks can mean the difference between being in a pleaseant area or living in the ghetto.  I think that you have to be present at their auctions to win, also, look at some of the houses they have for sale in buffalo or detroit, you can by a house for 10-30 k no problem, the banks are selling them at that cost, but a lot of them have been condemmed by the city/ or have been burnt down/water damage..... They are mostly distressed property and are not ideal investments.  Even the ones that are okay are not as a good a bargain as you think. 

These guys pitching stuff in infomercials are mostly scam artisits, they make money by selling a fantasy............think about how much $ it cost to produce that informerical, buy air time on networks, set up the call/shipping center to produce the orders, probely 25-50K at least, at $1000 a house the guy would own a few city blocks by now.

if its to good to be true it probely is

4

General / Re: Become disenchanted with tax sales

« on: November 25, 2006, 01:00:43 AM »

Hey Frank, Bidding on so many properties and being unsuccessful, I did'nt want to take the time of work, I had thought it would be be better(less expansive to me) to send my buddy with the deposit and and another draft for the difference if I am successful, gave the guy instructions and a  bullet proof package, with directions to and from the office, instructions on how to do a a lien search the day of at the local office, money for gas and lunch and paid for his time (assuming that he would spend about 8-9 hours).  The guy did the lein search, ate lunch, got there late and then gave me the wrong info about how much the property i wanted sold for, double checked with the town the week aftter and turned out that i would have one by a few thousand, oh well live and learn--- a lesson learned the hard way.  I did'nt think that it was possible to mess it up but i was wrong.  There will be other properties......

5

General / Re: Become disenchanted with tax sales

« on: November 24, 2006, 02:16:45 AM »

I agree Frank, I have been at this game for a while and have bid on some properties, have not been successfull, although what i have learned is that a property that I deem useless is of value to someone else.  I have seen properties that cannot be built on but have been bid on by  hunters, naturalists etc..  its all about perspective.  I have seen quite a few good deals and some not so good deals.  With tax sales most perspective buyers (myself included) are limited by our budgets, we all want 4 season waterfront lot in cottage country but don;t have the 50-60000 in cash to purchase the property.  Thats the one downfall to tax sales, you need the capital upfront as banks get uncomfortable when financing a recreational property.  The best deals are the ones that are unadvertised and the ones that you seek out for yourself.  I have seen some really good deals and missed out on one that i would have one if my buddy would have got to the auction on time.  My advice is to keep looking and eventually you will find one, just be realistic in your expectations.  Good luck

6

Questions and Answers / Re: Sheriff Sales

« on: June 21, 2006, 11:46:00 AM »

Sherrifs sales are a lot riskier and the potential exisits to lose a lot of money.  Years ago I was following all of the sherrif sales and went to quite sherrif sales, it was usually the same crowd and we got to know each ither pretty good, I heard a lot of horror stories from some other bidders.  The problem with those sales are uneducated bidders that a lot of times walk away from there deposits.  ie.. a house an approx mortgage of 100k, you assume that mortgage plus all other expenses that Frank mentioned, you can not inspect the property and have to bid site unseen. Also, the added expense of having the tenant ejected etc..  When you hear about this sales, you might hear that the property was sold for 50 000, you hear that that is just the cost of purchasing the mortgage and all debt.  It is like a car auction were an auctioner just starts rambling and people get caught up in the frenzsy.  Bottom line, unless you have money to lose, I would not bid on Sherrifs sale.

7

General / Cranberry Island final tender prices

« on: June 13, 2006, 12:30:10 AM »

Here is an excerpt from the local wiarton paper about the cranberry island lot sale.  These lots went for really cheap, if anyone on this board bid and won, congrats.  I did not bid on these properties, but they might have been a good deal for the right buyer.

Most of these lots were zoned SR shoreline residentiual and a few were Enviromentally protected.




Island lots go cheap


Wednesday June 07, 2006

Wiarton Echo — The sale of some lots on Cranberry Island off Oliphant has some councillors upset over the prices.
Councillor Pat Varley told the Echo the lots are worth far more than the town is selling them for.
In a vote of 5-4, council accepted a recommendation for Manager of Financial Services Pat Stock that council accept the following tenders for nine lots on Cranberry Island.
Plan 294 Lot 6
-One tender received for $2,500.
Plan 294 Lot 7
-One tender received for $1655.
Plan 294 Lot 8
-No tenders received.
Plan 294 Lot 9
-No tenders received.
Plan 294 Lot 18
-One tender received for $2,797.99.
Plan 294 Lot 20
-Four tenders received ranging from $1,600 to $2,505.
Plan 294 Lot 21
-Four tenders received ranging from $1,600. to $2,205
Plan 294 Lot 23
-Three tenders received ranging from $2,151 to $4,200.
Plan 294 Lot 24
-Three tenders received ranging from $2,151 to $4,200.
“I would recommend that Council accept the foregoing highest tender on each property. It may not be anywhere close to what we expected but the process was fair and competitive. It will yield $20,062 in revenue immediately and will also place seven properties back on the tax roll immediately. A couple of the properties may be built on very soon which could lead to additional tax revenue” Stock wrote in his recommendation.
The lots were advertised in area and Toronto newspapers and while unofficial estimates value them up to $30,000 each, (they are not shore lots) the actual appraisal price was not released to the public.
Councillors Pat Varley, Gwen Gilbert, Mark Wunderlich and Brian Fulford voted against accepting the highest tenders.

back

8

Questions and Answers / Re: property standards violations

« on: May 28, 2006, 12:47:11 PM »

Frank, you are defiantly right on with your analysis, a lot of property, espically commerical type properties are left vacant for a reason.  When bidding on this type of property it is very important to do due dilligance.  Another important factor when considering tax properties is what year they were "abandoned".  This properties may have been sitting in idle for years before the municaplity decides to put them on the auction block, with the current run up in real estate prices, some properties that may have not been profitable to refurbsih a few years ago  might very well be worth the cost today.

9

General / Re: Properties with leans on them

« on: May 07, 2006, 03:26:10 AM »

Only governement liens survive a tax sale, however, there are a lot of branchs to the government and it is always best to do a lien search to know what you are up against.  Is important to remeber that the Crown has a lot of various departments and any of them could have a lien against the property.  Also, if you are succussful bidding on a property with a non government lien, be prepared to prove your ownership to the lien holders, they may not be aware of the tax sale and might believe that since they have a lien, the property is theirs. 

10

General / Re: Does anyone get frustrated when a tax sale property is cancelled?

« on: May 07, 2006, 03:12:27 AM »

I agee, I have had this happen to me a few times. Frank is right, doing the research at the last minute can save some costs but it is not feasbile for everyone.  The way the law stands now, it does favor the property owner but it is all a part of the game.  I don't think that the laws will be changed anytime soon as the tax sale area is a small niche in the big picture of things.

11

Member Experiences / Re: Tax Sale property Experiences

« on: December 07, 2005, 02:15:31 AM »

Hi to everyone on this forum.  Good luck with that Gravenhurst property, I also bid on that property, but I was'nt even in the running.  I figured that anyone that bid that amount must have known something that I did not.  Ironically enough, it was after I had done all of my research that I stumbled onto this forum- wish I would have found it sooner..  Thanks to Frank for providing some really good posts and info.