Hello!

[stillsleepy]

Well, I'm a regular on a number of forums but in all honesty this is the slowest one I've ever seen. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but having discovered this site only a few days ago I already feel like I've read through all of the useful and interesting posts available!

None the less, I am happy to be here and will continue to learn. I have a lot of questions regarding the whole tax sale cult, but I will be posting in the "questions" forum a little later when I've gathered all of my thoughts. Hopefully one day in the future it can be me who is handing out the advice and prospering from the techniques and methods I learned here.

A little about me: I'm a student residing in the GTA and I've recently come into some cash. I originally planned to invest it, about half in the stock market and the rest in something 100% safe (GIC, Savings, etc) at least till I finish school. Having discovered the Tax Sale process however, and with a very strong background in construction, renovations, and related fields (and with several friends who own companies in the industry) it might be worth my time and effort to investigate putting my money into a low-cost property with the intention of reselling, or increasing its value and then reselling. At the very least, $160 or so for the 1 year subscription to the info package on the OTS.ca website seems like a worthwhile investment!

Well, hello and cheers to everyone here. Feel free to ask questions, post comments, or shoot me a PM for any reason  

[Rob]

Consider learning about Sheriff Sales.  Even better deals and if you have the extra time you can investigate and research each properly thoroughly.  It's more risky.. but the payoff could be what you're looking for.

But why not consider day trading?  Start small, learn and notice trends. 

[stillsleepy]

Thanks for the reply!

I've heard of sheriff sales, but always assumed they were american things... Do these happen in Ontario/Canada? Where can I find more info? Exactly what's the difference between a sheriff sale and a tax sale? I guess these questions will go into my eventual thread in the "Questions" section. Either way, I'd like to stick with stuff that is driving distance from the GTA.

As for day trading, I've thought about it and some of my investment was possibly going to go into day trading. My only issues with doing that are the following: You need to have pretty big margins to beat commissions and other fees, and it's essentially a full time day job. My studies are pretty rigorous and school is my priority till I graduate... That said, I can/want to commit time to any sort of investment, but I want to commit time based on my own schedule (i.e. 6pm-midnight) which would be difficult with day trading

Thanks for the reply though! Haven't even been here a day and I've already got more homework to do

[Rob]

You can always look at poker.  You still have to pay the blind and grind it out.

Sheriff sales are a different type of sale altogether.  They are a higher risk/reward scenerio than tax sale properties.  The worry about these type of properties is once you assume the property you assume all of the costs of cleanups and liens.  Under a tax sale property all non-crown liens will removed from the property, so someone winning a tax sale property has a much better chance of understanding all of the fact before they pay the final amount.  Under a Sheriff sales you do not have as much information and that makes it more risky.


http://www.taxsaleproperty.org/Sheriff.html

There is a sale coming up: http://www.taxsaleproperty.org/Sheriff/Sheriff-Sale-14-August-2010.html

Maybe you should go down to the court house Sept 15 and experience it.  And of course come back and tell us what were your first impressions were.

[stillsleepy]

Hey, thanks for the great explanation!

Coincidentally enough (or maybe not) actually live in Downtown Toronto, so I'll definitely be checking out the auction on the 15th. I'm excited to finally get my feet wet, though I can say with reasonable certainty that I won't be bidding on anything on the 15th 

Do sheriff sales come up often? I know the City of T.O. only does their tax sales once a year (in the fall from the looks of it). Also, would a normal title search return all liens, or just crown liens?

I know this is kind of turning into a question thread... I'll make one in that forum soon