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Posted by Bill H on November 06, 2003 at 15:59:13:
Lots of folks have asked all sorts of questions about the tax sales and I decided that I would go and see just what happens at the Texas Tax Sales. I had been told that the Austin rea is a very slow real estate market. Indeed Realtor.com shows this. There are thousands and thousands of lots and houses for sale in the area.
I spoke with the tax collector on the phone and they informed me that they were averaging 40 propertie per month and in the past three month had had THREE that redeemed. So we made our decision to attend and drove the 600 plus miles over there, did the research on all properties, attended the sale and found that all the bidders appear to be trying to obtain the property for re-hab or to build on the vacant lots and they are very agressive.
No one that I spoke with was interested in the investment for the interest and penalties.
And; just like other places where I bid on tax sales all of the people there are not entirely knowledgeable about what they are doing. One person bragged to my wife and I that they bought duplex lots. When asked if they investigated the liens they rather glibly relied, "Oh NO --they cannot lien a vacant lot." Huh?
My title search revealed that all of the propeties had an abstact of judgment ranging from a few hundred to several thousand dollars from the attorneys who prepared the court data and initially foreclosed for the county. Yep, it includes vacant lots also.
Some typical bidding was: The appraisal is for 2003 from the county tax collectors office.
Taxes-$3005.95, Appraised-$7,000 Bid-$8,100
Taxes-3141.71 Appraised-$7,000 Bid-$9,100
Taxes-1995.07 Appraised-$5,400 Bid-$3,000
Taxes-4216.61 Appraised-$5,000 Bid-$8,000
Taxes-2498.86 Appraised-$3,500 Bid-$9,000
House-10,536.32 Appraised-$97,501 Bid-$75,000 Has mech liens
Burned out house-Taxes-$29,689.39 Appraised $120,054 Bid- 62,000 Will require at least 50-60K to bring up to code again.
Maybe three properties sold for the bare taxes due and three or four did not sell at all.
There was about 150 people in attendance, 135 "Lookers" and 15 or so bidders. In this case I was one of the lookers as I bought nothing. All in all it was an interesting experience but not worthy of my time and effort to attend.
Hope this gives you some insight as to the happenings at the Texas Tax Sales in the Austin area.
Good Luck,
Bill H
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