In 2003, NRLL East, a little-known subsidiary of LandAuction.com, swept Florida buying thousands of OTC tax deeds and hired buying agents who attended tax deed auctions in nearly every county. This Irvine California based corporation with unlimited funds formulated and executed a business model that worked brilliantly and generated multi-million dollar profits for their corporation. In short, purchasing agents would walk into the circuit court clerk’s office, search the files, visit the property, and consult the public records. Upon payment to the Clerk, NRLL would be issued the tax deed. Once purchased, LandAuction.com would auction the property and their property auctions were huge. Many times have 600 properties auctioned in a month and sell the properties without title guarantee. Buyers would sign a release stating that they knew the property may have been previously purchased through the tax sale. The fact is that NRLL bought many properties in Florida for less than $1,500 and Land Auction.com auctioned off the property and in some cases they sold for $15,000 to $25,000. This process was quick and effective.

Another Florida Deed OTC example. Marion County in 2004, there were almost 1000 non-building parcels divided into recreational zones available for purchase OTC. At first glance it would seem like a tough sell and with so many other opportunities at the time it seemed worth the investment. However, these small parcels were accessible and could be used as campgrounds and short-term RV parking. The cost to purchase them was approximately $150-$300 per pack. Not seeing the potential was a huge mistake, after five or six weeks we repurchased these OTC tax deeds only to be told they were no longer available. Each and every one had been purchased by another investor. A few weeks passed and then some of these packages were put up for sale on eBay. It was surprising that a small undeveloped recreational lot adjoining the Ocala National Forest sold at auction for $1,600. These parcels are believed to have been sold without a guarantee of title by quitclaim deed or special guarantee deed.

How to Locate Florida OTC Tax Deeds

What is sought is the List of Land Available for Taxes. The Clerk of Courts or Office of Fiscal Acts will have possession of this List. Few Florida deeds are currently available without a prescription in many counties, but with the increasing number of people not paying property taxes, these numbers are increasing in many counties. Some court clerks provide a link to the land list from their home page. To locate these links and the clerk’s offices, you can use the click map found at the following link under County Government Auctions.

History of a Florida OTC Tax Deed

At the beginning of the cycle, property taxes were unpaid. The fiscal lien was auctioned and there were no bidders for the fiscal certificate in the annual auction. When this happened, the tax certificate was issued to the county and had an annual interest rate of 18%. The certificate was made available for transfer from the county to investors and was also made available for redemption by the property owner. Neither of these actions occurred, so it sat there for a lonely 2 years without generating tax revenue for the county. The county then applied for the tax deed and the deed did not sell at auction. Within 90 days of the deed auction, the property is made available to government entities, after which it is entered on the List of Land Available for Taxation. The deed will be available for purchase for three years, after which the tax deed is transferred to the BOCC (Board of County Commissioners) and transferred to the county. After this, the county will consider the property surplus and will sell it, auction it off, or turn it over to the city. There are plenty of opportunities to buy the property as the cycle progresses, but for this purpose we will stay on target.

Florida Tax Deed OTC Files

The Fiscal Deeds Office or the Court Clerks, depending on who keeps the Land List, will also have the property file. In this file you will find all mortgages, liens, judgments, etc. who were encumbering the property just prior to the time the deed was auctioned (see Owners and Encumbrances Report on file). The problem is that these files may have been prepared up to three years earlier, so there could be new liens, judgments, and title issues from the date the report was generated. You will need to do a title search to determine what up-to-date information you will need.

Florida Tax Deed OTC Question

Why didn’t an investor come forward and buy the deed at auction? There are multiple reasons for this. The most obvious is that there is something terribly wrong with the IE property zoned as a DRA (Drain Retention Area) or cannot be built on due to size or location, sinkhole, or lack of street frontage.

The truth is that most of the plots available will not have these problems. The most likely reasons are three: the value of the property at the time of auction did not greatly exceed that of the opening bid OR there were liens that exceeded the value of the property OR the property was exempt from ownership.

The first two of these items may have changed over the time the property is on the Land List. The value of the property may have greatly appreciated and the bonds may have been broken. The third item may have changed as well, but that needs a bit more clarity.

When the title deed was auctioned and the property was exempt from family ownership, the winning bidder would have had to pay half of the appraised value. With the property residing on the land list, it is unlikely that the property will retain that exemption. So, as of the latest tax listing, if the exemption is removed, you can get the OTC tax deed for much less than the opening bid was in the tax deed auction. This is rare, as most previously exempt homestead properties whose tax deeds are available OTC will also have other problems and most will go bankrupt.

I bought Florida Tax Deeds OTC and some gave me spectacular profits, one in particular had an ROI of over 700% in 120 days. Do you want proof from the Office of Property Appraisers and Official County Records? See test box.