A bill pending in the Indiana legislature will make it easier to sell property in an Indiana tax sale (aka defaulted properties).
For tax defaulted property investors, Senate Bill 310 has three main points:
1) A petitioner is required to serve notice of a petition only on a person with a substantial property interest of public record, eliminating the need to serve notice on other appropriate parties;
This means the tax collector’s office has less paperwork to fill out and track before the Indiana tax sale. This part doesn’t affect bidders in the auction.
2) A hearing date on a petition for a determination of serial tax delinquencies may be set not earlier than 30 days and not later than 60 days after the petition is filed (current law specifies that the hearing date may be set not earlier than 15 days and not later than 25 days after the petition is filed);
This really doesn’t affect bidders in the auction either. It means the tax defaulted property sale will be delayed a bit longer. The property owner has a bit more time to appeal the decision and get the money together to pay the past-due taxes.
3) Property taxes and special assessments are removed from the tax duplicate as soon as an order is issued finding that serial tax delinquencies exist with respect to the subject properties, regardless of whether the petitioner acquires a tax deed for the properties.
Provides that a petitioner for a tax deed under the normal Indiana tax sale statute may (instead of must) include various items of documentation with the petition.”
How the new bill can affect people who invest in Indiana tax sale auctions
“The measure also includes provisions to cut down on speculators who buy dozens of properties at tax sales but then fail to do anything with most of them, including pay property taxes, which just sends the parcels back to the tax sale list,” wrote Dan Carden for The Times.
In short, if you invest in a tax defaulted property auction in Indiana, you need to do something with the property. The law doesn’t say what “do something with it” means. If you just buy the taxes at the auction, then you do need to keep the taxes current while you have the tax lien certificate.
Senate Bill 310 has made it through the House and the Senate, by huge majorities, and awaits the governor’s decision. The full text of the bill is available here.
Indiana is a tax lien certificate state where you can sell a property in a tax sale. Successful bidders can earn 10 to 15 percent penalty on their investment.
My website, Members.TedThomas.com, has a detailed discussion of the Indiana tax sale auction system in the Interactive Map and Upcoming Auction section.
Ted Thomas is a Florida-based author and publisher who specializes in tax defaulted properties. Visitors to his website will find 4 must see FREE instructional videos. No credit card required.
The video lessons will give you everything you ever wanted to learn about government tax defaulted real estate which is sold at public auctions for starting bid, back taxes for 10 cents to 20 cents on the dollar.
You’ll also learn the secrets of tax lien certificates which pay guaranteed returns of 16%, 18%, up to 36%.
All reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in this article. Laws and regulations may change and you must be knowledgeable in the current laws and regulations at any tax defaulted property auction.
Website links may also have changed since this article was written.
Ted Thomas has guided many investors to buying tax lien certificates online, showing them the safest, most secure and predictable way how to evaluate and buy tax liens online.
Ted’s been showing others the steps to successfully buy tax liens for over 25 years, and Ted Thomas has become known as America’s Tax Lien Certificate and Tax Deed Authority.
