August and September are busy tax sale months. Select counties in California, Florida, Arkansas and New York have tax deed sales. Missouri has all their tax sales in August. Indiana and Mississippi also have tax sales in August.

In some states like Indiana, tax sales throughout the state may occur over several months' time. For example, in Indiana, some sales are in August, some are in September and a few sales are in October.

Be patient, as many counties are not Web literate and may not have information online. Also, sales dates may not be posted until a few weeks before the sale. To the extent possible, I have found information on most of the states listed above. When in doubt, call the county to find information for specific sales dates and times.

Also, remember that you can always use the links to counties that are on the Rogue Real Estate Investor CD, or that are located at http://www.tax-lien-certificates.com, to find specific information on the counties you want to visit.

The following is information on select counties in some of the states that have tax sales in August.

CALIFORNIA: tax deed sales

http://www.sonoma-county.org/tax/propertytaxes.html#delinquent

The tax sale will be held through Bid4Assetts: http://www.bid4assetts.com

Marin County: sale date is August 18, 2004

http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/TC/main/taxes/pages/auctioninfo.cfm

The tax sale list is available at: http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/TC/Main/taxes/pages/04list.htm

Mariposa County: sale date is August 27, 2004

http://www.mariposacounty.org

Yuba County: sale date is August 20, 2004

http://www.co.yuba.ca.us/content/departments/treasurer/auction/prop_available.asp

FLORIDA: tax deed sales

In some counties, tax deed sales are held every week. Because dates and times vary so much, I recommend you check with the county clerk by phone. Use http://www.tax-lien-certificates.com to look up county phone numbers by clicking on the Florida county links.

INDIANA: tax lien certificates sales

Vigo County

http://www.vigocounty.org/egov/docs/1088559105_684936.pdf

http://www.vigocounty.org/egov/docs/1084678392389.htm

Marion County

http://www6.indygov.org/treas/taxsale/proptax_2003.htm

Tippecanoe County

http://www.county.tippecanoe.in.us/departments/treasurer/realestate.htm

http://www.county.tippecanoe.in.us/departments/audit/index.htm

NEW YORK: tax deed sales

Cayuga County

http://co.cayuga.ny.us/realproperty/tsaleres.htm

Select Counties

Haroff Auction & Realty: http://www.haroff.com

MISSISSIPPI: tax lien certificate sales

There is not much information online regarding Mississippi tax lien certificate sales, which are held by the tax collector. You will need to call the tax collector in the county where you want to attend a sale for more information.

Rankin County

http://www.rankincounty.org/tc

Madison County

http://www.madison-co.com/L2TaxCollector.asp

Hinds County

http://www.co.hinds.ms.us/pgs/elected/taxcollector.asp

MISSOURI: tax lien certificate sales

In Missouri, all tax lien certificate sales occur in one day. For Missouri in 2004, this day is August 23, 2004. In Missouri you must either reside in the county in which you want to bid, or get someone who is a resident in that county to notarize a form so you can bid. This can be a problem if you do not have a friend, relative or business associate in the county. Information online for Missouri sales can be limited.

Boone County

http://www.showmeboone.com/COLLECTOR

Taney County

http://www.co.taney.mo.us

Cole County

https://mylocalgov.com/mcca/index.asp?countyname=cole

Greene County

http://www.greenecountymo.org/spane/taxsale2.htm

JUNE 2004 IOWA TAX SALE

For our June Iowa tax lien certificate sale, we decided to go to Story County. Story County is where Iowa State University is located and overall this appeared to be a good county for tax sales. In general, the sale went well; however, there were about 150 bidders, which is a little more than we like.

In Iowa, the sale is done using a computer and a random number generator. As each parcel comes up, a computer is used to randomly select a bidder number and the bidder can either say "sold" or "pass." This process is efficient and does not bid down the interest rate. Every winning bidder gets the 24% interest rate that makes Iowa a great tax lien certificate state. Also, since all sales are on the same day, it is hard for large investors to corner all the sales.

We also learned a little trick at the sale: if you want to win a lot of bids bring some friends. After the sale is over you can transfer ownership of the certificates for a fee. If your goal is to spend a lot of money, this is a good strategy. Overall, it was a fair sale and we left as the proud owners of several tax lien certificates with a 24% interest rate. If you want to focus on tax lien certificates, Iowa is a good state.

Next month we are going back to Florida to attend some tax deed sales. We have also been working hard on ways for you to invest directly from your home using negotiated sales lists and an LLC we are putting together.

I will send you a Special Edition newsletter in two weeks explaining all the details.

Happy Investing,

Bryan Rundell