If you want to invest into tax lien certificates, the first thing you should do is to purchase a list of properties in a tax sale. If you want to look in a particular place for example, Highlands County, Florida, you could obtain such a list from the highlands county tax collector website. Depending on the county you are researching, such lists have to be posted in the local newspaper for two to four weeks prior to the tax sale can occur. The list of sales that are held by a municipality will be small, but for the lists by counties, you may be dealing with much larger lists.

It is often possible to get a list free, but that free list may not give you all the details that you want to know about the properties you are researching. The free list will often only list parcel number or tax id, lot and block numbers, and property tax owed. Other details such as the physical address, type of property, last sale price, acreage, and if the property is still under mortgage, are often not included. To resolve this, you can either visit the tax collector's office, where you will look up the information for yourself, or purchase a list with the details included.

It makes sense to purchase a list even though the list might be small. Looking for the additional details you will need is an extremely time consuming process, and not worth the trouble just to save a little bit of money. For the detailed sale list with over 500 properties, the cost of the list may be over $50 and if over 1000 properties, the list could cost over $100. For the large list therefore, it may make more sense to do the legwork yourself and find the additional information that you require, instead of pay the hefty charges for the extra details.

Although the list initially may have 1000 properties on it, by the date of the sale, there may only be about 500 properties that are still going forward to the tax sale on the day posted. Providers do not promptly update their lists. A better approach would be to wait until four or five days prior to the sale, and then purchase a revised listing from a tax collector, then research the assessment details that you need. Limiting yourself to a few areas of interest, and to certain kinds of properties, may be a better use of your time.