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Tax sale overbids - in general, people don't know what they are. In general, people haven't even heard of them! Even ask a seasoned tax sale investor what he thinks happens when you lose properties because you couldn't pay the property taxes. Just about every time he'll say that the tax sale office takes all the money bid at auction.
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Well, too bad for the owner. In about half of the tax collector offices in the U.S., that's exactly right. If you lose your property, you lose any equity you had right along with it. The government takes the tax sale overbids - every last dime of it. It's morally despicable, but government isn't friendly to the small guy. Anyone who's ever paid taxes knows that the government will take whatever money it can get regardless of whether it's fair or not.
Free Money Search Unclaimed
In the other half of U.S. counties, however, the government keeps the tax sale overbids - that is, whatever amount was bid at tax sale over the amount owed in taxes - for the owner. Seems a little bit better, right? Well, hold your horses - it's not as great as it seems. The government still takes the money if the owner doesn't come to collect it within tight window of time - usually a year.
Free Money Search Unclaimed
Here's why this doesn't make it any better: how do you think the government notifies the rightful owner? They've lost their property - the one with the address on file with the county! The government sends a notification, to notice the owner of their tax sale overbids - to the house they vacated long ago. This makes no sense.
How often do you think owners realize the money is there? How hard do you think the governmental agency is going to look for the owner, when the result is that they get to keep all the tax sale overbids that never get paid out?
Are you beginning to see a huge opportunity here?
These overbids are created at local government agencies, not at the state level, so they're not governed by state unclaimed funds finder fee law. The owners are missing. You put together the owner with his funds, that he has no clue exists, and charge a 40-50% finder's fee to collect it for him. He feels like he hit a jackpot, and your bank account is fattened to the tune of ,000 or more a month. That's if you're working, let's say, 30 hours a week on it.
It's totally legal - for now. If you want to make finder fees, get in right away before the government changes the laws.
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