Are Tax Delinquent Properties any good, or are they just a bunch of Junk?

One of the myths of Tax Delinquent Property Investing, is the myth that all these properties coming up for auction are junk.

Why else would someone let a property that they own free and clear without a mortgage go for property taxes. Couldn’t they just sell it?

And if they can’t sell it how bad does it have to be for them to see a Tax Deed sale as the only option.

Well the truth is, there are some bad properties out there. However I would estimate that the majority of properties sold at a Tax Deed Sale are actually of remarkably good quality. There are many subdivided lots in decent subdivisions for sale and quite a few Homes. The homes usually are in a little bit of disarray, but they can mostly be fixed by a qualified contractor.

Thee is an entire host of reasons why someone decides to stop paying property taxes and let their property go for taxes. Here are a few of them.

1. Divorce: according to statistics almost 50% of all marriages in the US get divorced at some point in time. Some of these divorces are amicable, many are not. And in case of one of these less than amicable divorces the different parties don’t want to have ANYTHING to do with each other. Yet, they often get stuck with property which to them “smells” like their former partner/spouse. That is in many cases more than they can handle. They don’t want to deal with it, because it reminds them of their ex-spouse so they rather just give it away than have to deal with it. I have personally bought properties like that for something like $323.00 and sold it days later for over $12,000.00

2. Retirement; a lot of the cases I am seeing are from people who were planning to retire in a particular area of the US but then decided to stay where they are, closer to the family. Now then own this piece of land (usually) somewhere across the US and they have lost all interest in it. Plus since they live so far away, they don’t want to deal with a Realtor and they have lost all touch with property values in that area.

3. Inheritance: another frequent case is when someone has inherited a particular property but already has a home. Now dealing with this second property becomes a headache for the seller, particularly if the seller lives a little further away from the property, or even is an out of state owner. These sellers are some of my favorites because they tried to manage the property from away, but now they are only just frustrated, while not having ANY emotional affiliation to the property.

There are many more reasons, but I wanted to at least mention these three. More another time.