8) Finding County Lists

Let’s talk about how to find lists of available tax lien certificates.

In order to begin buying tax liens, one must know how and where to find potential investments. This is oftentimes the barrier that keeps investors from getting involved in tax lien investing, but as members of our program you have access to short cuts that make this previously difficult barrier just a simple click.

There are two primary types of lists that investors chase, with a third optional list that we will mention briefly as well. The two primaries are pre-auction lists and post-auction lists.

Pre-auction lists are just that, lists of tax lien certificates or tax deeds that are going to auction in the future. According to most state-mandated laws, these lists are required to be published to the public 2 – 4 weeks prior to the auction. These lists were previously published in physical newspapers or on bulletin boards at the county building; however, more frequently we are finding these lists published online on the county websites, which makes it possible to invest in many counties from anywhere with an internet connection.

As members of Tax Lien Code, you also have access to our exclusive Marketplace, where we provide pre-auction lists of tax liens and deeds. Let’s navigate over there to show you where you would find those.

Post-auction lists, also referred to sometimes as County Held Certificates, are lists of investments that were not purchased during the auction that the county makes available to the public for purchase afterwards. Remember that these were passed on during the auction, so it’s important to look a little more closely at these lists to find reasons why others may have passed on them.

We often find incredible investments over-the-counter, so don’t count these out, but make sure to get the over-the-counter (OTC) list as soon as it’s made available by the county because there are many investors that specialize in only those investment opportunities so, although you avoided the competition of the live auction, over-the-counter investing can be competitive. These lists are usually available from the county 2 – 6 weeks after the auction is over, so check back in regularly.

Let’s go through an exercise to demonstrate how you would find over-the-counter lists from the county.