John Lane Review

John Lane / TaxSaleLists.com Review

By Rick Dawson

've been a tax sale property investor for over 10 years and tax sales have really been a great investing area for me. I constantly get requests to comment on John Lane of taxsalelists.com.

First off, I'll say that John's site has been an extremely valuable resource to tax sale investors everywhere. It's kept up-to-date with hundreds of tax sale events that occur throughout the nation.

And I believe he offers a yearly subscription which allows you to obtain lists for an average of $1 each, including enhanced lists that contain more information than the county normally provides. You can't beat this price - I use his service to obtain lists all the time, and recommend it to my students.

But a lot of the people who ask me about John Lane want to know more about his tax sale workshops. I have taken the free "intro" webinar that he offers periodically, and if you decide to invest in tax liens or tax deeds, it sounds like he really knows his stuff.

The most exciting thing about John's webinar is the display of properties he shows which his students have purchased for less than $1000, free and clear and resold for huge profits.

Learn the Downsides of Investing at Tax Sales

I can't confirm for sure if those deals are real or not, but if I had to guess I would say they are. Tax sales can produce the best bargains out there in real estate investing. But they are a lot more rare than most tax sale gurus make them sound.

Before you register for John's program, why not learn a little about tax sales and decide what you want to accomplish with tax sales.

Tax Deeds Vs. Tax Liens

The first thing you need to know about investing at your chosen tax sale is whether the government is offering a tax deed or a tax lien when you buy at the auction.

If the county is offering a tax deed, the process is usually pretty straightforward. A list will come out showing all properties subject to tax deed sale, and if the owner does not pay the taxes by the tax deed sale date, you can bid on the property against others at the sale.

If you are the successful bidder, you will own the property free and clear. Mostly free and clear anyway, we'll talk about that a little more in a minute.

Can you see the problem with trying to get a bargain property at a tax deed sale? You will be bidding against many other bidders at the sale, and it would be a rare event indeed to get a property worth $50,000 for $500 when there are other bidders in the room bidding against you.

The overwhelming majority of bargain purchases are make through tax lien purchases. But tax lien buying presents its own set of unique problems.

If the government is offering a tax lien, you will be buying only a lien against the property, not the property itself. You will have to give the owner a certain period of time, which varies from state to state, to pay the lien off.

If the owner does not pay the lien off in this time period, you may then be eligible to apply for a tax deed to the property. In some states the owner can pay the lien off right until you get your tax deed.

Now, you will have a much better chance buying a bargain tax lien that can lead to an eventual property deed. The problem is, if you've purchased a lien against a $50,000 property for $286, you will get paid off 99% of the time!

Garbage Properties

So, if you go to a tax deed auction, you will probably not get a bargain property with all the others bidding against you at the auction. If you buy a cheap tax lien, you will have to wait many months or even years and probably get paid off.

What other obstacles will you face? Well, my county recently put out a list of 10,000 properties to be offered at their tax lien auction, and only about 1,200 sold. That tells you that the other 9,000+ properties were not even worth the amount of taxes owed on them!

You will have to attempt to eliminate worthless properties from the list that comes out, and personally inspect the rest (from the outside only!)

Then you'll have your "short list" of properties you want to bid on, and you'll have to determine the maximum you're willing to pay for each.

Once you get to the sale, you will be outbid on many of these, and others will no longer be offered at the sale.

Once You've Purchased a Few Liens

After all this work, maybe you've purchased a few cheap tax liens against good property. Now you will usually need to hire a lawyer to do a title report and give notice to each party that has an interest in the property.

If the owner doesn't pay you off, congratulations! You may now apply for a deed to the property.

Just be forewarned, your deed is probably not exactly "free and clear"! The IRS may still have certain rights in the property, and in most areas you will have to do a "quiet title action" in order to be able to sell the property with title insurance.

This quiet title action gives all interested parties one more chance to challenge your tax deed. These parties can and do come forward and reverse tax sale deeds all the time.

Who is the Tax Sale Right For, Then?

If you're like most aspiring tax sale investors, you want cheap property, and you want it now! Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get cheap property now through a tax deed sale, and you have a long education and wait ahead of you if you want to acquire properties through tax liens.

The fact is though, if you have a large amount of money to invest, and want to do so safely, tax liens are a great investment. This will be proven to you when you attend your first major tax lien sale.

Institutions often attend the sale and purchase millions of dollars in liens at a time. Most states provide for a 10-20%+ return on your money if you invest in tax liens.

If you are limited in funds, or really just want properties instead of a decent annual return on your money, read on.

How I Acquire Properties Through Tax Sale

Got a million dollars and want to make 10% on it annually? Maybe even get a bargain property once in a while in the process? John Lane's webinar may be a crucial piece of your education.

Want to get tax sale properties now without bidding at sales or waiting for your liens to mature into deeds?

Why you should not attend tax sale auctions or buy tax liens to acquire tax property

Why we're so disliked by conventional tax sale buyers - they call us "Deedgrabbers" in frustration!

The TRUTH about acquiring bargain properties by attending tax sale auctions or buying liens - they're rare as hen's teeth!

How you can get your hands on lots of cheap property before the sale takes place
A largely automated way to get to the properties being lost

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