Anyone on this thread have experience with tax lien investing?
Like the title suggests, wanted to know about other people’s experiences with tax lien investing. Any good books or articles that you can recommend? Risks? Pros/cons? 

Any advice/insight would be great!
[{"id": "io25a9c", "text": "I bought one that was pretty sizable on a multifamily property in my city. It was redeemed about 6 months later but the city would not payout for 3 more months. So the stated 18% interest was dramatically reduced. The problem with books on them is that the mechanisms in each state can vary so widely. I would start with your state, study their rules and then go to an auction and see how things are getting bid up.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "io2cr39", "text": "Wildly different town to town.  Pick your farm and get to know the town officials.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "io2e0h1", "text": "based on my limited knowledge:\n\n1) there may be multiple liens (i.e. prior tax liens) before you so you need to investigate where you are going to be in in the payment order\n\n2) it's may be good to utilize as a 'debt' investment and be careful/think twice using it as an instrument to take possession as you may not know the full environmental history...you do not want to be in the chain of title if such issues exist.", "replies": [{"id": "ixul0c9", "text": "Can you expand on the two points. How do you discover all of this?", "replies": [{"id": "ixw172y", "text": "1) there are books/ebooks on buying tax liens.  check your local/county library.   property taxes may be arrears for multiple years.  if you bought the latest year's tax lien, you have to wait for all the previous years' liens to be paid off first before you get paid off (or you could pay off the prior years to get yourself in the first lien position.  some states' tax lien portals show prior yr(s) outstanding amounts.  others do not, so you have to dig through tax records.\n\n2) Lender A provided a mortgage for an industrial property.  One of the TTs filled/assembled butane canisters.  There was poor maintenance/housekeeping/record keeping by the TT and over the years, various spills (some of them large) contaminated the soil and the plume spread to adjoining properties.  Borrower defaulted on the mortgage (not related to the butane spills) and lender A foreclosed on the property without a thorough environmental investigation (not just a title search)...they were focused on foreclosing to turn around and sell the property as quickly as possible to recoup the outstanding mortgage.  As a result, when lender A took over the ownership, they became responsible for the clean up (TT by then had gone out of business).", "replies": [{"id": "ixwcxow", "text": "TT always go out of business as I have seen. I have placed a hold on a book already but wanted to learn from others in the meantime as well.\n\nThanks for the detailed responses. It\u2019s helpful. Last question tax records is this available digitally or you have to go to a tax office?", "replies": [{"id": "ixwo2o3", "text": "depends on municipality/county", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "io2fcji", "text": "In college I made 24% yearly in college. \n\nWoodbury country Iowa. I think they\u2019ve gone online now. 2 years before you can start the foreclosure process", "replies": [{"id": "isrl56r", "text": "Wow. Why did you stop?", "replies": [{"id": "isykhcj", "text": "I still do it. Just not my main focus. \n\nIdk why someone downvoted me", "replies": [{"id": "isys7nw", "text": "That is an incredible return. Would most of the tax liens be secured by land or what was the collateral?", "replies": [{"id": "it5aufu", "text": "Some land some buildings. Some shit. You have to be careful because you could buy a worthless tax lien and waste money but most of the time if there\u2019s a bank lien attached they\u2019ll pay it so you won\u2019t foreclose on it", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "io2wto0", "text": "1 in 1000 to get a tax lien deal moneymaker in California. Most properties/parcels are unbuildable land.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "io2y393", "text": "I did one in Louisiana. Made a good return. My understanding is the rules/laws vary greatly state to state, and there are definitely risks, so do your research. I\u2019d check out bigger pockets.com as a starting point.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "io6etv1", "text": "Yes, manage your risk, don't take impulsive decisions, always under bid, keep a limit considering worse scenario, always visit and see the land/ property, know the zoning , what can you to add value/fix it, how much cash needed, etc.\n\nRead the ad., search land regisrty of property, know about the redemption period, int. rate, crown rights/lien,  they are final sale, etc.\n\nLearn the legal stuff or learn the laws regarding tax lien, title transfer, claims, burden on property, and have a really good real estate lawyer for advice. \n\nParticipate in few auctions first to learn, learning is important, network with people there, and then do it.\n\nHigh return, high risk.", "replies": [{"id": "io9ewoc", "text": "So question, let\u2019s say you buy the certificate but the owner doesn\u2019t pay for next couple of years. Do you have a right of first refusal to purchase these? If you don\u2019t buy and others come in then theoretically there could be multiple tax lien holders on a property over years with priority going to those that first purchased?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "izt8l7w", "text": "I\u2019ve been digging into it lately, I just finished the book on tax lien investing in NJ. It\u2019s a first position secured investment and you have the potential to make over 18% APR a year. What blew my mind is you\u2019re able to use tax liens as collateral to borrow more. If you\u2019re using a line of credit at 6.5% APR and earning on average 15% on each lien\u2026 you could potentially generate 50% annual returns.", "replies": [{"id": "izt9ebk", "text": "Buy $10k of liens and earn ($1,500/year) \u2014&gt; use the liens as collateral and borrow $8k from the bank at 6.5% APR \u2014&gt; Buy $8k of liens, earning $1,200/yr - $520 borrowing cost = $780 additional yearly income ($2,280 yearly income now) \u2014&gt; use $8k of liens to borrow $6,400 from the bank \u2014&gt; repeat. If you continue to repeat it adds up to $5k/year if average borrowing cost is 6.5% and liens are generating 15%.", "replies": [{"id": "iztx1q5", "text": "But assuming person hasn\u2019t been paying property taxes it\u2019s not like you are guaranteed to get that amount every year. It accrues until it\u2019s paid off, no? Or is owner typically paying just the interest and not entire amount due every year? Not sure how it works. What book were you reading?", "replies": [{"id": "izu3lt7", "text": "You are guaranteed to get your interest at some point or you\u2019ll receive the property at a deep discount. Most times you aren\u2019t paid anything back until you begin the foreclosure process then most times the bank who holds the mortgage will pay you off so they can foreclose on the house. I read Tax Lien$ by Deborah Feldstein", "replies": [{"id": "izumwcp", "text": "Exactly and how long do you have to wait to kick off the foreclosure process? Months? The other thing was say they didn\u2019t pay taxes first year and you bought lien, second year they don\u2019t pay taxes isn\u2019t another lien created? You either buy it or someone else buys the lien behind your previous tax lien", "replies": [{"id": "izupoxj", "text": "In NJ it\u2019s 2 years before you can start the foreclosure process, then from what I\u2019ve seen\u2026 typically about a year for the foreclosure. From what I\u2019ve read, continuing to pay for any subsequent taxes as they come due is the best way to go about it. You can wait and let subsequent taxes become overdue, but then you\u2019re bidding against someone for the new lien. If you choose not to buy the new lien, they will have priority over your lien.", "replies": [], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]