In my county, once the property is listed, the owners have so many days to pay the back taxes. If they fail to do so, the property is sold, BUT…

The owner has one year to pay and reclaim their property. So the buyer may be tying up their money with nothing to show for it.

Asking around, especially from realtors, is very good advice.
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If you know anyone who works in real estate–as a broker or agent–they can probably introduce you to someone who has bought property at a tax sale, or to someone who is an "insider". Offer to take that person out to lunch in exchange for answering your questions. Then think of everything you might possibly want to know and ask!! In my experience, people who "know the ropes" on tax sales (or any other type of investing) are more than happy to share what they know to help you learn what you need to know. By getting to know and talk to those people, you can save yourself a lot of time and money by NOT duplicating their mistakes! (And they’ll tell you about those, too!)

Procedures, locations, methods can vary from location to location. But making phone calls to the tax assessors office and county court house is a good way to start.

I literally spent a week making phone calls, trying to get information in my area, and all I got was the "run around" because no one knew anything about what I was trying to find out. (That’s really not unusual, so be tenacious!) At the end of the week, after being sent here, there and ultimately to the county district attorney, I was re-routed BACK to the place I’d called first, and got the exact same person I’d talked to at the beginning of the week. On a whim, I made her take notes on what I wanted, then told her she was probably going to have to go find some little old man who nobody even knew was there, and he was probably in a corner office in the basement. LO and behold!! Fifteen minutes later I got a call from a man–literally a "little old man" whose office actually WAS in a corner office in the basement!! Not only was he happy to give me the information I wanted, but he got a good laugh out of how I’d finally tracked him down!

One last caveat on buying tax lien properties: They come "as is". Unless you’re sure you’ll have the time and money to put into it, try to physically examine the property before you buy it. Sometimes, if it’s a great deal, it won’t matter. But if you sink everything you have into a property you’re wanting to move into or rent out immediately, you could be in for a shock.

ADDITIONAL: AlaskaJoe is right!! Robert Kiyosaki writes the best books EVER on investing and financial freedom, and his "Rich Dad’s Advisor" books are great as well–also more specific. "Real Estate Riches" by Dolf de Roos will give you all sorts of information.
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Robert Kiyosaki – Wrote a few good books in his rich dad poor dad series, you can probably find them anywhere books are sold or you can go to http://www.richdad.com and find them in the store there. I personally have read the original Rich Dad Poor Dad, and Cash Flow Quadrant both were good and left me wanting more.
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