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Investing in property tax liens can be very profitable, but if you’re new to the tax lien arena, some background information is the best place to start. In its simplest form, a tax lien is a mechanism that guarantees that a lender will be paid for a debt by allotting a tax commitment on the debtors’ property. This then effectively prevents the property owner from raising further capital or financing secured against that property.

The most common type of tax lien is a mortgage lien - this is where the lien is secured against the property on which the debtor holds a mortgage. If the debtor - in this case the property owner - is unable to repay the taxes owed against his property he risks losing his property.

Of the property liens we are considering here, there are two types - namely the general lien and the particular lien. The particular lien comes into play when an investor claims the right of access to a property in return for services or money which they invested in the particular property. Most liens can also be divided into two main groups - namely legal and federal liens (which can be enforced in a court of law) and equity liens which are valid only in courts dealing with equity.

When buying a tax lien certificate, rather than buying the property, you are actually only lending the property owner the money they need to repay their back taxes. Initially, you are not buying the property. In return however, the property owner is legally agreeing to repay a predetermined amount of interest on your loan - which can be anywhere from 6% to 50% depending on the agreement and the state where you are buying the lien. The property owner is also agreeing to repay your money within a predetermined time period, which will be stated as part of the tax lien certificate.

So here’s how we make our profits. If the property owner is able to repay the value of the tax lien certificate back to you within the allotted schedule, including all interest owed to you, he retains ownership of the property, and his credit rating remains intact.

In the event where the property owner is not able to repay the tax lien back to you, in full, ownership of the property is transferred to you as the purchaser of the tax lien certificate. The property is now yours for you to do with as you wish.

As a tax lien investment, the mechanism will make money whatever the outcome. If the original owner repays the lien on time, your profit is the amount of interest that was set on the tax lien certificate. Where the owner defaults, and you become the new owner of the property, the amount of profit will be determined what you choose to do with your new real estate acquisition.

There is a lot more information you need to be aware of, and a lot more knowledge required before you go off a buy your first property tax lien certificate, but in simple terms, it is a very realistic model to make money and invest in real estate.

Finances

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