What surprise should we not be surprised by?

[Harvey Spector]

Are there surprises after you've successfully purchased a tax sale property in Ontario?

[Dave2]

Are there surprises after you've successfully purchased a tax sale property in Ontario?

Harvey:

Could you be a little more specific with your question?  I mean none of us here has the time time to write a book on the purchase of real estate; tax sale or regular purchase.  

I assume you were the winning bidder of one of the recent sales.  

Are you referring to the ones in Norfolk?  Frankly I was a little intrigued by the one that got 29 bids as I missed that one as much of the property was underwater.  Must be oil or gas under that one.  

Maybe if you or someone who bid on it could enlighten us dumb
country boys from eastern Ontario about the riches to be found on Lake Erie and then we can better answer your question.  

[Harvey Spector]

Hi Dave2,
Thanks for your reply, and nope, I have not made a purchase yet.
I?m very new and anxious.

Can I ask my question this way?:
What would you assume the most common mistake a new buyer would make when purchasing their first tax sale property? (just a regular home type property)
HS

[Dave2]

Hi Dave2,
Thanks for your reply, and nope, I have not made a purchase yet.
I?m very new and anxious.

Can I ask my question this way?:
What would you assume the most common mistake a new buyer would make when purchasing their first tax sale property? (just a regular home type property) HS

Anxious is a good thing.  It reduces the risk of a serious mistake.  

With the wide range of single residence tax sale properties out there it is pretty hard to generalize because the devil is in the details so I will stick to process.  

two observations:  Tax sales are like getting married. it is a two stage process.

 From the marriage side getting engaged and then going down the aisle.  From the tax sale side; winning the bid with 20% deposit and coming up with the remaining 80%.

First observation not enough people seriously question do they really want to fork over the remaining 80%.  

Second observation people greatly underestimate the followup expenses to make it saleable or to make it useable.  Unless you are a professional take whatever estimate you made and at least double it.

Case in point before responding to your post I printed off the most recent invoice from my surveyor for a tax sale win.  Cost is just under $10,000 and that is just for the land survey.  

I have asked him to give me a ballpark quote on another one.  I expect it to be at least double this one.  

Final Point we all can learn.  Case in point my earlier question on Port Rowan.  Obviously I missed something and always interested in doing better on the next bid.  Still looking for an answer on that one. 

[Matt]

I have seen people over bidding just to get the win but then walking away losing deposits.  This I think is the most frequent surprise that a purchaser can expect. Some properties in tax sales are in so bad condition. If you try to renovate, you would lose money in the end.  If you try to sell without putting any money into, but then nobody wants to buy.  Some houses are severely damaged that they are just not possible to bring the life back, especially abandoned old houses.

Another after purchase-surprise comes in such case where a purchaser wins without doing homework and later he discovers that there is a ton of crown liens registered on title.
I suspect a couple of properties just listed in Kawartha could be related to this type of after-purchase surprise.. 

BTW, I feel the same as Dave2 on that Norfolk water front property.
I also wanna know what was really going on there.
I am not sure if there was any treasures or natural resources hidden underneath the water or not.
But most likely, it was probably a false competition generated from hypes on water front...
 

[bee]

There is GOLDEN RULE in Real Estate "Everybody wants that everybody wants, and no body wants that no body wants" 

[Dave2]

There is GOLDEN RULE in Real Estate "Everybody wants that everybody wants, and no body wants that no body wants"  

Harvey/Bee:  

On tax sales you should add "expect the unexpected"   I post "the Devil is in the details" and guess what shows up in the next Tax Sale in South Frontenac.  

http://www.ontariotaxsales.ca/nc/upcoming-ontario-tax-sales/featured-properties/single-property/?tx_stwtaxsalesproperties_pi1%5Bpuid%5D=5617&tx_stwtaxsalesproperties_pi1%5BTSuid%5D=1338&tx_stwtaxsalesproperties_pi1%5BbackPid%5D=78

Any one know the details of  what is below islands in "Devil Lake"

PS. Someone supplied me a photo of the caretaker.  

[ruok]

I'm with Matt on this one. Biggest mistake is definitely lack of homework. If you are not careful you will end up in trouble at some point. One lien can cost you thousands. As much as we tend to call this a game....it's far from a game when big money can be lost.

[Harvey Spector]

I just read that even after searching title and finding no liens on the property, there still may be liens on the name of the home owner.