John Beck And Other Items

I bought the John Beck program, and there is some outdated material in it. It isn't very well written, and many of the PDF's are repetitive with information already covered in the other "books". Alot of it is quoted straight out of the 50 state statutes with little or no explanation of what it really means. Even the inspirational part of it isn't very inspirational. Since I work for a law firm, I intend on putting together a FREE website dedicated to answering several tax lein and real estate questions.

The Robert Allen set of books cost less and is very inspirational and has more information by far about No money down deals. It isn't tax leins, but the realestate info is very useful. Plus the guy isn't a nervous wreck like Beck on the air or TV and is still writing books.

Both Allen and Beck have stupid programs that try to suck you in for thousands of dollars, promising to make you rich if you put it on your credit card using OPM. Don't fall for it. You can do it yourself, but you have to motivate yourself and trust yourself.

Some of the things I learned regarding Leins are:

1. You need to research your area thoroughly. You should look for on the internet the state statutes of the state you are interested in buying leins. Read it. It may be greek to you but at least give it a try. They make highlights and list your questions down.
2. Consult a lawyer and bring your list of questions with you. The most important thing is to know how long you have to wait before you can apply for a deed, what you need to do to get the deed, problems you may run in to with foreclosing on the deed holder and kicking them out of their home.
3. Go to the web and search for the tax collector's office website for your city. This has numbers for the tax sales, deed auctions, dates, locations, phone contact numbers, deposit info and other useful requirements. For example. I found the Miami Florida tax collector website to be****Must Reach Freshman Investor status before posting URL's*** and it says I need to put $5,000 check in the hands of the clerk before the auction, and give them my social security or Employer ID card info. Go to the office and talk to the people there and to local real estate buffs. If you go to an auction try to see who the pros are and try bidding against them. They obviously know what they are bidding for. Or, get to know them and ask for their help.
4. The tax sale list is usually published in a newspaper before the sale and if you miss out you can usually buy it for $30 from the newspaper who compiles the list. From the list you need to look at all the properties. I saw ones for only $15. But the important thing is to pick properties in areas you know and can check out the property from the outside and then check at the court to see if there is anything else about the property you should know about. Assessments, other leins even tax-leins may be on the property. You can't see inside the home, but if you are slick, you can have a real estate agent show you a nearby house and try talking to neihbors that may know about the property. Yes, this takes time, but the more you do the research now, the less you have to do in the future. I for example, found about 16 areas that I would be interested in owning a home. Anything outside those areas I dont care to own. If I find tax leins on properties in those areas, that is what I am interested in looking at and bidding on.
5. The bidding works backwards. Florida starts with 18% and works back in 1/4 intervals. So, you bid 18, the next guy bids 17 3/4 .... and so on until the lowest bidder on a property wins. This doesn't mean you get the property, you just get the tax lein. They are supposed to pay you that percentage for however many years they are delinquent.
6. Florida has weird laws about these leins. You have to wait 2 years (3 according to one of the atty's I spoke to) before you can apply for the deed. Other tax lein holders can apply for the deed too. If there is a mortgage on the property, you can bet that the mortgage company would likely pay you your percentage rate interest first and apply to foreclose on the property (giving you your principal and interest)(therefore you don't get a chance to apply for the deed). They obviously don't want to lose their investement because you as the tax leinholder have first lein rights and anything else is secondary. So you are relatively safe if there is a mortgage on the property not to lose your money. If you do get the deed, you have to be aware that the local association may have fees that need to be paid too. So, dont apply for a deed unless you have the cash to pay for those association and other fees that may arise. It isn't as easy as getting a house for $50. You may have several thousand dollars to pay in addition to getting the home properly. And you may have to evict someone, which can be painful and expensive. And you may have repairs and cleanup to do in the house.

Long and short is that you should look at tax leins as an investment that you could lose money on. I am only investing spare cash I have. Most of my money is in stocks and bonds. Probably buying property from aggressive sellers is less time consuming and more reliable. For example, I found a condo near the ocean that the owner had died and the heirs didn't know the value of the property. We got a 20% discount on the property and picked it up for 95k. 5 years later we sold it in 2 weeks for $160. And we got to live in it, too. I think the real estate market is drying up in many areas, but there are some it is still booming in.

The tax leins take a long time to mature. 2 years supposedly in florida, and if you don't apply for the deed, you can hold it up to 7 years.