Syndicate Joanne Musa's Articles Straight onto Your Web Site! - easy one-time setup, takes only minutes - fresh, informative content on your site - updates automatically - build content-rich sites with our authors! - best of all, it's FREE!! Click here to get started! Books by this Author 7 Steps to Building Your Profitable Tax Lien Portfolio FREE special Report ''7 Steps to Building Your Profitable Tax Lien Portfolio'' by the Tax Lien Lady.   Buying Tax Liens Online webinar recording, manual, plus bonus consult and videos on how to buy tax liens online. Includes guide to all the counties that have online tax sales.   Tax Foreclosure Fortunes Learn how to make money on overbids from tax foreclosed homes. This course includes a teleseminar/interview, manual, support documents and bonus e-book.   Tax Lien Investing Basics Learn the basics of investing safe, high yeilding, real estate secured tax lien certificates and tax deeds with this audio course. Online course includes 2 audio lessons with manuals on the basics of tax lien and tax deed investing and how to find the tax sale information. The course also includes 2 bonus e-books and 2 more bonus audios. All for only $97!   Tax Lien Investing Secrets Digital Course 4 lesson audio course on how to buy profitable tax liens and deeds.   Tax Lien Lady’s Jet Start Program Learn how you can grow your wealth safely by investing in tax lien certificates and tax deeds. This program consists of 2 e-books and a 30 minute consultation with Joanne Musa, the Tax Lien Lady.   Subscribe to Our Content Updates E-mail*: Your Name:

Are you stalled in your tax lien investing because you think you need to know more before you get started? Tax lien investing is really not that complex. You just need to follow these 5 basic steps.

1. Choose where you will invest - The first step is to choose the state and county or counties that you want to invest in. Are you interested in investing in tax liens, tax deeds, or redeemable tax deeds? This will help to determine which state you will invest in. If you don't live in a state that has the type of tax sales that you are interested in, you may want to consider the online tax lien or tax deed sales. I believe that it's best to invest in what you know, so if possible, pick an area that you are somewhat familiar with. It doesn't necessarily have to be the state that you live in, but it helps if you know something about it. It should be an area where people want to live and the population is growing, not decreasing.
2. Find the Tax Sale Information - Once you know where you want to invest, you need to find out all you can about the tax sales in that state or in that county. Most counties only have a tax sale once a year. Many counties have a lot of information about their tax sales, including the tax sale list, online. Get the tax sale list and see just what information is provided by the county on the list and what you are going to have to find out on your own. If the county doesn't provide a good list with a lot of information about each property, then you may want to purchase the tax sale list from a tax sale list provider.
3. Do Your Due Diligence - Now that you have the list of properties that are in the tax sale, and know the rules and procedures for the sale, you need to do your due diligence on the tax sale properties. You want to make sure that any properties that you bid on have value of much more than what you bid (in the case of a deed or redeemable deed) or what the lien amount is (in the case of a tax lien). You need to check the tax records to find out as much information about each property as you can and determine a rough estimate of the value of each property that you plan to bid on. For tax deeds you will want to do some type of title search to check for liens or judgments that might survive the tax sale. For vacant land (both liens and deeds) you'll need to check any zoning laws to make sure that the property is buildable.
4. Prepare to Bid - Now you should know which properties you want to bid on and how much you are willing to pay, or how in interest you are willing to bid. The next step is to prepare to bid at the tax sale. In step 2, you should have found out how soon before the tax sale you need to register in order to bid. For online tax sales, you may need to have money deposited a few days before the sale in order to bid. Now is the time to make sure that you have the proper form of payment for any bids that you win at the sale.
5. Bid! - You've done your homework and now you're prepared to bid at the tax sale! Make sure that you know what it is that you are bidding. You should have found out what the bidding procedures are in step 2 and you should have enough funds to pay for all of the deeds or liens that you win (step 4). You should also be aware of any other costs and fees involved when you win a bid (find that out in step 2).

Keywords: tax lien investing, tax liens, tax sales, tax deeds, profitable tax lien portfolio, tax lien sales, redeemable tax deeds

About the Author
Joanne Musa, East Stroudsburg, PA, USA
joannemusa@taxlienlady.com