Question regarding Tax Liens & real estate?

Question

If you pay a tax lien property, and the taxes are only like four or five thousand dollars. Is the property yours?

I mean It seems too easy.

Does anyone know?

Answer 1

not unless the county has seized the property for failure to pay tax liens and you purchased it for that.

Answer 2

You cannot just pay a lien on a property, unless that property already went to auction, and didn't get sold. Different counties have different rules.

Contact your county's tax office, and find out what they do with properties that have defaulted on their taxes.

You mentioned a tax "lien" specifically. This leads me to believe that you may have heard that about your county. In tax "lien" counties, you don't get the property - you get a lien against the property. The owner can still redeem the lien by paying it off with interest to you as the owner of the lien.

Again, check with your county's tax office.

Answer 3

If the Lien Holder (the town, city, or county government- taxing authority), has taken possession and is willing to sell the property for the amount of the outstanding lien, then yes, the property may be yours.  However, make sure that they have extinguished any other liens on the property (mechanics, mortgage, income tax, util, etc...), or else, you may be buying an even bigger headache.

If the (taxing authority) has not taken possession, you may have just helped out the owner of the property.

An alternative would be to purchase the lien, but make sure you have a good attorney with a serious title company to perform the necessary "do diligence".