How to Foreclose on Liens
If you are familiar with tax lien investing, then you probably know about the occasional opportunities to buy property for the price of back taxes. Imagine getting a $200,000 piece of property for a few thousand dollars. To take advantage of this investment, you need to know How to Foreclose on Liens.
When you win the bid on a lien, the property owner is allotted a certain amount of time to pay back the debt, along with some healthy interest and penalties. Most of the time, they do just that. Once in awhile however, they do not. When they don’t, that piece of property becomes yours, free and clear – after you foreclose.
There are two types of foreclosure systems. You’ll need to know which kind is used by the state you’re foreclosing in.
The How-To of How to Foreclose on Liens
Regardless of which system is being used, the first step is to notify the county of your intention to foreclose.
Next, you will either need to publish your own legal notice of eminent foreclosure and send notice to the owner, or the county will handle it. It depends on what the state mandates. Once this is done, either the owner or the bank holding the mortgage will have the chance to make good on the debt. If the money is paid, the interest and penalties that the government applied to the debt becomes your profit. Those monies are added to the original principal of the lien.
If no one comes forward to cover the bill, one of two things will happen. The property goes up for sale at auction, or you own the property outright. It’s the governing law that determines which way it goes. Some states do it one way, some another.
If you happen to be in an area where the property is forced into a sale, you may still get yourself that real estate, but only if no one bids higher than the total amount due.
The two systems dealing with foreclosures are explained pretty clearly in the book titled, Tax Lien Riches available at www.taxlieninvestingguide.com. The author uses layman’s terms and spells out all the smaller details to help you get through it. The book is an easy yet incredibly informative read. If you truly want to know How to Foreclose on Liens correctly, I highly recommend that you read it before your next auction. Not only will you know how to deal with problems, you’ll know how to prevent them from happening most of the time.