Maine Tax Sales Explained

This post features MaineTax Sales Explained, A video posted on YouTube on April 16, 2020.

MaineTax Sales Explained

Maine is a Deed State and has an 8% Penalty with an 18-month redemption. The fact that it has 16 counties really does make a difference because Maine Tax Sales auctions are held at the local municipality level.

The structure of Auctions is a combination of Premium Bid and Bidding Down the Ownership. Let me explain as best I can.

Rules for Maine Tax Sales are Confusing

Rules for Maine tax sales are somewhat convoluted. The municipality sells only a part of the property. They sell enough to cover their costs. the taxes, interest and charges not paid. Property City ordinances control the sale procedures. If taxes are unpaid, the city will lien that property. Under state law, the owner has 18 months to redeem. If not redeemed, the city will now own the property, or at least that part of the property that they carved out.

Timing

Maine tax deed auctions occur on the first Monday of February.

Process

They adhere to the Premium Bid system when auctioning an entire parcel. Maine uses the Bid down the Ownership method when a partial parcel is being offered. The bidding process can be through oral or sealed bid. The state awards a tax deed to the winning bidder. At that time the bidder does NOT get the property per se. The deed remains on file with the clerk, allowing the homeowner 2 years to redeem the deed to their property. The redeemable tax deeds earn an interest of 8% per annum that the homeowner pays upon redemption.

Once the city owns the property, the city may retain ownership or sell the property by way of sealed bid. Additionally, even if the city bids the property, the city can reject all bids as inadequate.

Overall MAINE is a hard one to work with. You don’t get points with me by doing things at the municipality level, that’s pretty inefficient. Also bidding down the ownership sets you up for disaster in terms of ever getting anything out of the deal. Maine gets a 1 out of 5.

For the Tax Sales Course

Click Here:

Ultimate Tax Sales Course

Interested in Other States?

Click Here:

State Tax Sales Map

To Get the FREE State Worksheet

Click Here:

FREE State Worksheet

For the Ultimate Real Estate Dictionary

Click Here:

Ultimate Real Estate Dictionary

For the Tax Sales Course

Click Here:

Ultimate Tax Sales Course

Interested in Other States?

Click Here:

State Tax Sales Map

To Get the FREE State Worksheet

Click Here:

FREE State Worksheet

For the Ultimate Real Estate Dictionary

Click Here:

Ultimate Real Estate Dictionary

Interested in Tax Sales in Another State?

Tax Sales investing is a niche that has the potential to be insanely profitable.

However, most investors do not have a deep understanding of this investing strategy.

Every state has a unique set of rules and regulations. There are some basic rules you need to understand as to how the process works. Generally, states will fall into one of three categories:

Tax Lien States
Tax Deed States
Hybrid States

Hybrids are states who conduct their tax sales by selling tax deeds with a caveat. The deeds have a redemption period much like a tax lien certificate.

This map provides links to information for every state as well as Washington DC.

Maine Tax Sales Explained