A Tax Sale has its Advantages

Buying a home can be one of the most complicated and time-consuming processes you will ever endure, which is why looking into the possibility of buying one at a tax sale could be beneficial to you.

Through the conventional home-buying process, buyers must often go through the long, arduous process of qualifying for financing and securing a mortgage loan. Between this process and that of looking around for the home of your dreams, it can take weeks, months or even years to simply get to the point where you are ready to actually make an offer on a house.

At that point, it is certainly possible that a particular seller might not be willing to negotiate down to the price you want, or may not be willing to negotiate at all, leaving you without a deal and without the home you want.

One potential solution to this potentially frustrating process is looking into a tax sale. Homes sold this way have been repossessed because their previous owners failed to pay all of their property taxes, and they are typically able to be sold without the headaches involved in a long, drawn-out process.

One of the major advantages of buying through a tax sale is the fact that you, the buyer, get to set the exact price you are willing to pay. Because the open bidding process allows you to track trends and interest and decide for yourself exactly how much you are willing to commit to, there is little guessing or negotiating involved in what is a very straightforward process.

These types of homes are also set to sell at reasonable, fair-market prices. Starting bids in a tax sale are usually set at the amount of the delinquent taxes plus any expenses associated with the transaction and will increase from there depending on the interest in the house.

There is also a significant advantage in terms of the time frame involved. Unlike buying a house through a realtor or other popular means, there is no gray area involved in an auction. The sellers are all mandated to sell by law and are motivated to do so quickly and easily to the highest bidder.

Once the auction has been completed, terms of the transaction are quickly established and the closing process is outlined in full. The process is then streamlined from there with the goal of having the transaction completed as quickly as possible without the waiting period that usually comes with a traditional closing.

For these reasons and many others, there are good reasons to consider purchasing a house in a tax sale. Deciding whether to do so is a decision each individual must make based on his or her own financial needs, capabilities and preferences.