We're not going to be investing at tax lien auctions or tax deed auctions, because we will not get bargain properties often enough. We will be bidding against too many people or waiting too long to acquire properties, and may not even end up with any properties if we buy tax liens. Even though it is rare to acquire a bargain property at a tax sale auction, or from buying a tax sale lien, it does happen occasionally.

There is an infomercial playing now by John Beck on late night TV that shows spectacular student success stories. Students show how they acquired properties worth $50,000 - $200,000 for less than $2,000. I highly doubt these examples are made up; they're probably real!

What John Beck does not share with you is how many tax liens the student had to buy, and how long the student had to wait, in order to get the first property. Perhaps a student had beginner's luck and acquired a property for pennies on his first try. I highly doubt that the student will be able to continue his success acquiring bargain properties in the long term.

You see, an investor must typically buy dozens of tax liens, and wait a number of years, to acquire even one property. This also means tying up tens of thousands of dollars of investment for years. Most of the tax liens will pay off, and you'll be left with a relatively small return on your investment and no property.

So what approach will we take? We'll buy the properties directly from the owners, right before they are lost. Just go to your county and see when the next tax deed sale is coming up, and get a list. Then mail to all of the owners who are facing tax foreclosure, offering to buy their property. Or, if your state sells tax liens against properties, get the sales results from a previous sale and see who still has outstanding liens today. These are the owners at risk of losing their property. Mail to these owners in the same way.

Why not let the investors do all the research to buy the best liens, and let them wait for most of them to pay off. Then, when they're about to get a "John Beck Infomercial" bargain property, you'll go to the owner and buy the property right before the tax sale investor gets it! Or wait until your tax deed list comes out, and get some properties taken off the list by buying and redeeming them! You'll hear the tax sale investors curse under their breath "Maybe I'll be luckier next time!?!?!"