Tax Sales and Your First Home Purchase

By: Lance Mohr

If you have spent some time contemplating the purchase of your first home, you may be puzzled over what avenues are available to you through which you can get the most home for your money. In this regard, it behooves a first time home buyer to consider the possibility or prospect of purchasing a residence at a tax sale. With this in mind, there are pointers that you need to keep in mind when it comes to the possibility of purchasing your first home at a tax sale.

At the outset, you need to understand that if you do not have any real experience in the Tampa Bay real estate market, you really must consider engaging the services of a Tampa Realtor to assist you in purchasing a home through the tax sales process. Indeed, you will find that by engaging the services of a Tampa Realtor in this regard, you will find the process of buying your first home through a tax sale to be a relatively easy endeavor.

If you do feel more comfortable in pursuing the purchase of a home via a tax sale, one of your primary resources actually will be the local newspaper, specifically the classified ads section of the newspaper. You will find in the classified section of the local newspaper so-called legal notices. Within these legal notices, you will find announcements pertaining to Tampa Bay real estate that is being sold via tax sales.

Generally speaking, these tax sales literally are held with some regularity, sometimes literally on the steps of the local courthouse depending on what jurisdiction you reside in or in which you are seeking real estate.

The Internet can also be a useful resource for you when it comes to tax sales in this day and age. By utilizing the Net, you can identify some properties that will be subject to a tax sale.

Finally, when it comes to resources through which you can obtain information about upcoming tax sales, you will also want to consider what is available at your local courthouse. Because the country government in many cases oversees tax sales, the local courthouse can provide you with relevant information about upcoming tax sales involving residential real estate that might be of interest to you at this juncture in time.

Finally, in preparing for a tax sale, you need to make certain that you have your financing completely in order in advance of the sale itself. In this regard, you likely will need to make an initial escrow payment on the date of the sale itself. And, you will need to satisfy the full amount you bid on the property within a very, very short time after the sale itself. Indeed, you likely will have to demonstrate your financial ability to purchase the real estate that is subject to the tax sale in advance of being permitted to bid on that real estate in the first instance.

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