The Tax-Deed TutorTax-Deed Tutor, Your Free Guide. My favorite counties to conduct research in are those where I can access the information over the internet. One of my favorite counties is Marion. Very few counties currently allow access and viewing of the tax deed files over the internet, which Marion does allow. By being able to view the files, it makes researching the properties up for auction much easier. Here you will find a basic tutorial to follow for researching tax deeds in Marion County. The tools, skills, techniques and research necessary in Marion County will be identical to those needed in other counties. The same principals of research conducted in the same order found at the same county offices are what you will find when moving from county to county. There are slight exceptions, in Marion County the keeper of the tax deed files and receiver of payments by winning tax deed bidders is the Tax Deed Clerk at the Tax Deeds Office (who is conducting these actions on behalf of the Clerk of Courts). Aside from the slight exceptions, by following the tax-deed tutor guide you will have a great advantage over many investors. The internet is an ever changing and dynamic research tool, if the links are not found in the order presented here, Google the County offices listed. If this specific tax deed file is no longer available online, it can be found at the Tax Deeds Office which can be contacted through the Clerk of Courts. Tax-Deed Tutor Purchase: $3200 tax deed 3/4 acre in nice subdivision, site built homes only, municipal water, paved road frontage. 
Just as in Nassau County (previewed on prior page) it all starts at the Clerk of Circuit Courts.
www.marioncountyclerk.org/public
Once the page loads you will find the Owners and Encumbrance report, title research report, under the "Tax Collector Certification". In the Tax Collectors Certification you can view the findings of the title report, owners of record, lien holders, mortgages, judgments, etc. Some counties include parcel maps and Appraiser's data in the tax deed file, some do not. See the title report? Just the way I like it, no big issues here. Do take notice the date of the report was in May 2008 and the property tax deed is to be auctioned in January 2009. The data is nearly 8 months old, I am writing this on 1/5/2009. Now take a look at the Clerk's Affidavit, no nasty IRS or government office notification required, so as of the date the report was generated no government liens were found. Also take notice of the number of owners and parties of interest. If more than 6 persons in ownership or parties of interest are named, there will be additional costs to incur when conducting a quiet title action. In this specific instance, there is but 1, you are not required to notify the tax deed applicant. There maybe others revealed when we conduct our Official Records Search, but for now I'm felling pretty good. Make sure you take the owners name, parcel number and legal description with you as you scan through the documents, you will need them later. www.pa.marion.fl.us/ tax-deed tutor Link to follow, "Property Search"/ Agree. Then Search by "Parcel ID Roll 1". Use the Parcel number you pulled from the Tax Collector's Certification. Once the record loads, you can view the last known conveyances of the property by clicking the book/page number. Does the legal description on this page match the one pulled from the tax-deed file? Yes. See anything concerning? No. It looks as though the last conveyance was to the owners on the title report back at the tax deed file. Check the zoning; you can click on the land data link to find a description for the zoning designation. Zoned for residential, yes. Opening bid at the tax-deed sale is about 10% of 2008 assessed value, good. Click the "MAP IT" button, this will direct you to the interactive mapping. Once the map loads follow this progression of links: mapping/layer control/select 2008 aerial and qualified sales 2008 vac. This will drag the vacant property sales for 2008 onto the aerial map, then update. If you go to full page view and reupdate the map there are 4 or 5 sales within map view. Tax-Deed Tutor Tip: Make sure the parcel map you are directed to matches with the property id number you pulled from the tax deed file.
Tax-Deed Tutor Note: Because a property is zoned residential does not always mean it is buildable. Is your tax-deed target parcel of normal size compared to surrounding parcels in the area viewed on the map? Are the adjacent developed properties sitting on lots divided by dashed lines? If all the developed properties in a map view are sitting on multiple parcels and your target is a single lot, there could be problems.
In most counties, multiple lots with a single owner will be separated by dashed lines with a solid line surrounding the enjoined parcels. If the neighbors house is sitting in the middle of 3 lots separated by dashed lines and your tax-deed target is a single lot, look farther. If you find all the surrounding homes are sitting on multiple lots, it may be required. I know there are many subdivisions in Florida where more than one lot is required to build. Want to know more about a specific property on the map? Click on the information button (i in a circle) and hover your mouse over the parcel you need information about and left click. The information about the parcel will appear on the right. See it-Nice Job, a .18ac parcel sold for 7k nearby in April of 2008, where our target property is 3x that size. At the bottom of the description for the comp property you will see a link "PRC" that will transport you to the records for the parcel you selected. If you are looking at the same one I am, the assessment is $5,400. Not to bad, based on this one comp. Click around and find other parcels which sold recently to collect the assessments, sales prices, addresses and features. How does it compare to your target tax-deed property? Do you have the comps you need? If not, zoom out further from your original map to cover a larger area. OK, Congrats-you now have the comps, zoning, owners, conveyance, size, assessment, maps that you need from here. You also have viewed the tax deed file, so you know what liens and mortgages existed as of the date the title report was generated. Use the above link to the Clerk of Courts. Once there, locate the Official Records Link it is under the "Search Button". Then, "Search Records Now". For Party Name query the property owner taken from the tax-deed file. Tax-Deed Tutor Tip: The reason I don't use the Property Appraiser's Information to query for ownership is that I frequently find the property will be assessed to someone other than the owner, maybe a relative or a corporation managing the property. A good rule of thumb is to not rely on street addresses for tracking information either, many streets have numerous names, you don't want to bid on the wrong property. I typically track everything by lot and block. If a parcel is not in a subdivision I will track it by book/page number of the last known conveyance. This takes time because the book/page number attached to the property will change as the property conveys from one party to another. Did you find any liens, mortgages, conveyances, judgments? Write down the book/page number of the ones you found. Tax-Deed Tutor UPDATE: Recent F.S. and U.S.C. changes have been put into place that affect which liens are considered superior to the issuance of tax deed and certificate of title, must have info for tax deed investors. Get The Update Measure your success. Go back to the tax deed file, view the documents in the Tax Collector's Certification. Do the book and page numbers you found match those in the file? Were there additional conveyances, liens, mortgages recorded after the May 2008 date that the title report was completed on (title report found in Tax Collector's Certification)? I found no recorded documents in the Official Records which were not present in the tax-deed file. Tax-Deed Tutor Tip: As the winning bidder at the tax-deed auction, you will be responsible for additional taxes owed on the current tax year. These will not have been delinquent at the time of application for tax-deed and thus become your responsibility. These records can easily be accessed via a link from the Tax Collector's homepage. This is a very simple tax-deed to research; many times I will conduct a query of the Official Records by property legal description to cross reference with my name query. This specific property had been conveyed by warranty deed to the owner, so I do not continue to research the property backwards in time to follow the chain of ownership. While there was a conveyance recorded after the warranty deed; it conveyed full interest in the property to the current single owner. I am confident that if a previous owner were still attached to the property it would have been located by the title company generating the title report. I am now assured that there has been no additional conveyances, liens, judgments levied against the property after the May 2008 date. I also know that there was nothing missed by the title company. Tax-Deed Tutor Tip: Some judgments and probate records can not be viewed online. Those you will need to view at the Clerk's Office if they are not present in the tax deed file. While different counties have different systems for accessing records, I always start at the general recording desk in the Clerk of Courts office. They will be able to assist you in retrieval of the document or tax deed file. If seeking a tax deed file, make sure you have the tax deed number or tax certificate number in some counties. If retrieval of a document is required, have a book and page number or party name to query. Ta-Deed Tutor Step 4: On The Road Run a search on realtor.com before you go. Find properties closest to your target, call the realtor and ask them if well, septic is required or are public utilities available. Pay close attention to the location of surrounding developed properties while driving the area around your target. To far away and there could be a problem getting electric. Many large development corporation developed subdivisions in the 70's and 80's and some areas still don't have access to electric. Always drive a 2-3 block area surrounding your target to seek out for sale signs. Make the call, get the size/asking price, ask if water/sewer are available. One final Tax-Deed Tutor Tip: NEVER TRUST A SINGLE SOURCE FOR INFORMATION. The information found here is my opinion and should not be interpreted or construed as legal or professional advice. No legal or professional advice is being given and the use of this information is at the readers own risk and peril. It is advised that those considering this investment should seek qualified legal and professional services. Follow the Progression for Best Use
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