Tax-free Tax Lien and Tax Deed Investments

Posted by | Tax Deeds,Tax Liens | Wednesday 12 January 2011 7:44 am

Excellent Tax Deed InvestmentYou might have asked this before, “Is it possible to invest in tax liens and tax deeds tax free?” Well, the answer is yes. It is entirely possible to use cash from a self-directed IRA to invest tax free in tax lien certificates and tax deeds.

You see, if you use the cash from a regular self-directed IRA to invest in tax deeds and tax liens, your cash will grow tax free until you decide to withdraw from your own account after you retire. However, if you plan to use the cash from Roth self-directed IRA and you did not withdraw until you retire, you will not pay your profits’ taxes! Sounds great, isn’t it?

Though a lot of brokerages may say that they contain self-directed IRAs, these may not be true. A true self-directed retirement account can permit you to invest anything as long as it is not prohibited by the law. Investments that are allowable are tax deeds, tax lien certificates, notes, real estate, and other usual investments. True self-directed IRAs are not allowed to sell investments but they suggest investment types that you can utilize your self-directed IRA account for and may even teach you in doing the paperwork but they cannot make any commission.

Now, retirement account specialists say that you are only allowed to roll-over the money from your 401k if you are not working anymore for the company where you set up your retirement account from. But you can roll over the money from a regular IRA account into a self-directed IRA.

Just a heads up, there will be fees when you open and maintain a self-directed IRA but they are of minimum compared to taxes that you will be paying for the government for your capital gains and investment income.

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Don’t Be Fooled With ‘Tax Liens Made Easy’ Ads

Posted by | Tax Liens | Friday 7 January 2011 3:19 am

Real Estate Best Kept Secrets Tax Liens DeedsA lot of people may have come across a site that offers tutorials for investing in tax liens with exaggerated claims such as purchasing million-dollar homes with just a thousand dollars. Of course, some may think that it’s worth a try so they buy this program called “Tax Liens Made Easy” which will provide you access once you pay. Just to warn you, do not get fooled easily with such tax lien and tax deed programs. Always be wary and if you think you are willing to pay for the said program, learn more about it first so you won’t be wasting your time and money for something useless.

It will be helpful if you actually read the full text of the website’s offers so you will know what you will get when you purchase. If the website’s program does not elaborate on what information or what tutorials that will be provided to you, do think twice. It is also recommended to look for other alternative tax lien tutorial programs that are on the internet and choose the best for you.

Just so you know, investing in tax liens may require time and effort for you to study and understand the process before you actually start to bid but don’t be fooled with programs that claims to provide you outrageous steps that will make you rich easily. There are other ways to learn more about investing in tax liens such as reading free blogs or articles on tips and procedures, asking help from real estate professionals, or self-studying.

Investing in tax liens is considered to be one of the best investments that is guaranteed fool-proof and easy if you fully understand the ways just make sure you are able to get the best tips and advices rather than just spending cash on programs that really aim to scam rather than provide information.

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Tax Lien Property Purchasing Strategies

Posted by | Tax Liens | Thursday 16 December 2010 3:01 am

Government tax lien certificate is the one that you should be looking for if you’re aiming for a low cost investment property. Tax liens are placed on a property when a real estate agent or delinquent homeowner doesn’t pay his real estate taxes to the city government. Thereafter, the government sells the property by holding an auction and they sold it to the highest bidder. The new owner now has the responsibility to take over the liability of paying the real estate tax arrears.

Getting in touch with the local county tax collect enables you to get a list of all the properties which are in government tax lien. Information on auctions and real estate biddings are announced on public via the local newspaper or websites. Through this you would know when the government intends on holding the next auction of the tax lien properties.

When it comes to the day of bidding and purchasing the real estate properties, all county governments have their own set of rules. Some of them might want the buyer to be present during the auction and pay cash in person for the property. That is why it’s very important to know these rules in advance by checking online as it is available. This assures you of not ruining the tax liens opportunity that’s on stake.

This type of real estate investment is also intended to those people who are really wanted to own a home of their own. Tax liens properties are a sure way of getting one as you can get the property for lower than the market value. You would still be saving lots of money even after paying the taxes.

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Can You Invest in Tax Liens Even If You’re Outside the Country?

Posted by | Tax Deeds | Wednesday 8 December 2010 8:20 pm

Many people from all over the world ask this question, “Can anyone outside the United States invest in tax liens and tax deeds?”

Well, the answer is a yes.

All that person needs is a US TAX Identification or ID number, which is fairly easy to get from the IRS. What’s even great about it is – even foreigners have the opportunity to invest in tax liens and deeds. But of course, an investor not from the United States has to have all the needed due diligence in order to join the bidding. Here are a few samples of the most significant things one must have:

  • Location
  • Value
  • Property Condition

Since international investors are away from the subject properties that are to be placed in auction, one cannot be in person near the site.

There are two choices that a potential buyer outside the country can do:

1. Have the due diligence through phone. With advanced software tools like Google Earth, counties can very well provide picture databases and map quests or MSN Live Search
2. Hire a Real Estate professional who can very well visit the property for you, take some pictures for you to check out, and do research for the investor.

Now, there are also cases wherein counties or states hold their auctions online and investors, inside or outside the country, can attend to. But again, the investor needs a real estate professional to check out the property or have the due diligence over the phone prior to bidding. Remember, it is always needed to see the property you plan to invest in.

The international investor can also just wait for the actual auction to be over and then ask for the list of the leftover properties known as over-the-counter tax liens. These tax liens are commonly available without the need to bid but by just mailing a cashier’s check with the details of the Tax Lien ID, the investor’s Tax ID, the Property ID, and Bidder ID. The county will then send the investor the Tax Lien Certificate of the property.

With today’s technology, investors from all over the world can now purchase tax liens and tax deeds in the United States.

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Tax Lien States

Posted by | Tax Liens | Wednesday 18 August 2010 10:53 pm

What you can expect from a tax sale all depends on the state you are attending to. Just remember, counties and states have different processes in doing tax lien sales unlike tax deed sales wherein they are most likely to be the same.

Take Florida, Illinois, and Arizona for example, these states have interest rates that are bid down. Other states, on the other hand, have interest rates that are in constant and their lien prices are bids up. Now a premium is the fee that is bid up from the original amount due, it’s also called as overbid. And again, different states handle these things differently.

There are states that you can actually get an interest from the premium that is paid for tax liens such as Indiana and Alabama. While there are also states that you are not able to receive an interest on the premium like West Virginia. States that somehow don’t pay interest on the premium and don’t give back the premium to its investor include Vermont and Colorado. But there is one state wherein you can bid down its interest rate to zero and then to premium – New Jersey.

There are also states that use a random selection process and even the so-called round robin process to award the tax lien certificates during tax sales. In the first process, the person who conducts the auctions randomly chooses bidders. Oklahoma and Wyoming use this procedure.

The round robin process on the other hand, the auctioneer will offer a parcel according to the list to the next waiting bidder. The problem with this procedure is that you are not able to choose freely which properties you would somehow like to bid on to. So you will really have no idea which properties will be offered to you and the only thing you can do is to either accept the offer or decline it. Some counties in Colorado use this procedure to tax liens on certain amounts.

It is indeed important that if you decide to bid on a certain state or county, make sure to know the procedures so as not to be disappointed and to fully take advantage the great opportunities being offered in tax lien auctions.

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