Lose Money Now
Florida Tax Deed How To

Many new tax deed investors lose money, some have inherited liens and or judgments exceeding property value, some have overbid and some have walked away with property that has the potential to ruin them but few return to try again. By following the steps given here you too can be of the majority who purchase a tax deed and never see a profit, learn the best ways to lose money at a Florida tax Tax Deed Auction.

1. Locate a County that you are interested in, pay for a subscription or monthly listing to a website so that you have your tax deed auction list. DO NOT go online and search for it yourself, you might save money.

The Clerk of Courts homepage, for nearly every County, has a link to their auction list, but who needs that? The link is clearly there for aesthetic value anyways; add more buttons and seem all knowing. Some counties actually use tribute web and upload the tax deed files so that they can be viewed online, but hey who wants to read a bunch of pages. DO NOT read the Owners and Encumbrance Report which can be found in the tax deed file. If you read this it may lessen the number of properties you want to bid on. This only lists all the liens, mortgages, judgments, owners and parties of interest and certifies it through a specified date, which is usually a few months back. Who cares, go ahead and bid regardless of what a bunch of documents say, you can get out of nearly any situation by denial. Even my 10 year old knows that.

One of the best ways to Lose Money at a Florida Tax Deed Auction is by ignoring the tax deed file and the O&E report.

2. Here is another way of losing your money. Absolutely DO NOT search the official records to locate liens, mortgages, agreements, judgments, and encumbrances recorded against the property, this one of the best ways to lose money. The O&E Report certified by the Tax Collector that was in the tax deed file is good enough. What are the chances of additional liens or judgments being recorded against the property or the owners in the 2-6 months between time of certification and auction date? The more liens the better, it cuts down on auction competition. While tax deed auction regulars are competing against each other, jump right in and bid on the properties no one else is bidding on. You know more than everyone else, you just completed an expensive system or seminar. The auction regulars who seem to know everyone and who have been attending these auctions for years just do not know how the system works.

Another way to Lose Money at a Florida Tax Deed Auction do not conduct a title search and bid on property that you have no knowledge of.

3. Purchase the newest system or real estate millions book. DO NOT wait, there are literally thousands of these to purchase. One system seller pro , written and professed by the site owner, is indeed a real estate genius. He went from broke to millions, buying real estate in Florida, and proclaims he can show you how for $199.99 plus phone consults. I searched the Florida Division of Corporation records for him by name. Nope. No one by that name is owner or registered agent of a business in Florida. I ran a statewide query by name in the official records and yes, there he was. He had purchased all of 3 properties in 9 years, 2 by auction and one received through probate worth a total of about $150,000. Maybe he owns an out of state corporation that is not registered in Florida, maybe he put all the property and millions in his sister-in-laws name, maybe he claims homestead exemption on a property in Duval County because he likes the view. The Google street view of his residence is pretty nice.

One good way to Lose Money at a Florida Tax Deed Auction do not conduct any due diligence.

4. DO NOT bother to look up the Property Appraiser's data for the parcel. This will only tell you property features, size, zoning and current use, assessed value, and gives the current owners address. As an added annoyance, most county Property Appraiser's websites have a link to GIS mapping so you can map the property and add overlay data such as recent area sales, permits, elevation maps, districts. I just don't know why all this stuff exists; so why not ignore it, many do.

Yet another way to Lose Money at a Florida Tax Deed Auction, fail to familiarize yourself with the specific features and zoning of a property and place the winning auction bid.

5. The all time Best Way To Lose Money at a Florida Tax Deed Auction is, "DO NOT physically view the property". Google Earth, Google Maps and Local Live were created to do this for you. The auction regulars will tell you to waste your gas and time viewing the property but that is definitely old school. These are the same people who will tell you that there are properties zoned DRA (drainage retention area) which are frequently auctioned and are unbuildable. These people may attempt to convince you that an auction bidder paid $40,000 for a lot in a gated community and it had a sink hole on it the size and depth of a house. Sweet, the property was worth $50,000 without the sink hole, and with $20,000 worth of fill and prep work the lot could be surveyed and tested for soil density to see if it is buildable. Questionable buildability after spending $60,000 on a $50,000 property in a falling market, now that guy really knows how to lose money. What do the naysayers know; maybe the purchaser wants to use the lot as a swimming spot during the summer rains. Maybe, he intends to go before the zoning board and get a land use variance so he can build a king size half acre swimming pool. Maybe he is utilizing the Best 5 Ways to Lose Money at a Florida Tax Deed Auction, who knows.

James A. Mikel

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