If you are familiar with tax lien investing, then you most likely know about the occasional chances to buy property for the cost of back taxes. Imagine getting a $200,000 piece of property for a few thousand dollars. To use this investment, you must know ways to know the way on tax lien sale homes.The majority of the time, they do just that. Once in awhile however, they do not, that piece of property becomes yours, free and clear – after you foreclose.You’ll need to know which kind is employed by the state you’re foreclosing in.Regardless of which system is being used, the first step is to inform the county of your plan to foreclose.Next, you will either need to publish your own legal notice of eminent foreclosure and send notice to the owner, or the county will handle it. Once this is done, either the owner or the bank holding the mortgage will have the chance to make good on the debt. If the money is paid, the interest and penalties that the debt becomes your profit. Those monies are added to the original principal of the lien.If no one comes forward to cover the bill, one of 2 things will occur. The property goes up on sale at auction, or you own the property outright. It is the ruling law that determines which way it is going. Some states do it one way, some another.If you be in an area where the property is forced into a sale, you will still get yourself that property, but only if no one bids higher than the total amount due.