Tax Sale property Experiences

[Logical]

Thanks frank for the info. I understand not deveopable but what do they think...some poor sucker would just jump in and buy the property anyhow?....oh well. Next time we will call and ask for the info before we fill up the car...oh unless it a very beautiful summer's day . We did enjoy the ride though....especially the kids.

[dainuclear]

Hi All
I looked at two greater Madawaska properties.  I bid ( unsucessfully) on the 19 acres on the Lake ; Frank you are correct there is no road however the water accessibility off the municipal trail was acceptable for me.  The view at the south end of the Lake is stunning!  According to the town clerk It went for around $20,000 and had 34 bidders; the 100 acre property had 30 bidders and went for around $55,000.  The Lake property may have been artifically high due to the fact that the lot 2 to the north is for sale listing at around $29,000 I talked to the real estate agent and He said he was getting calls every day on it; something tells me his calls have dropped off now.  I talked to one local who also looked at the 100 acre property and he expressed his consternation at the amount of traffic looking at the property's and I quote " It's like a ______ zoo around here!" and judging by the amount of tracks in the snow He was not far off.
It certainly is an adventure.

Cheers
David

[RichD]

It looks like a high% of properties that end up as tax sales are "junk" and have little or no value to the investor. Lets face it if you have a property that has value you are likely to do any thing and every thing to keep it from being taken away for a couple of years of back taxes. There is only a small % of TAX sale properties that seem to fall through the cracks that actually have real value. Keeping in mind "value is in the eye of the beholder".

[Frank]

Your right Rob, most of it is junk (either contaminated, or useless).  In 99% of the cases where property has some value - the former owner will redeem it prior to the sale, and sometimes at the very last minute.  I spent many years as a tax collector and ran a number of sales - and I did see a few good properties being bought up through the process.  These were normally cases of owners that had disappeared.  Since retiring, I bought three such properties - and they are all worth far more than I paid for them - and in every case the previous owner had 'disappeared'.

Bottom line, is that you have to keep your eyes open, and be picky about what you are interested in, it may take a long time for it to come along - and your bid may, in the end, not be successful because someone else saw more value in it than you did.

By the way, I have also seen people get burned (big time) for not doing their homework.