Frequently Asked Questions

Your Account on TaxAuctionSurplus.com

Working the Records

Do you research the liens on the property that may take the surplus?

Not for records on this website. This is a training website, so we teach you how to do the research. If you want us to perform the research (plus many other benefits), you would need to join SurplusDatabasePro.com

Which Florida County is the best one to work?

The short answer is “ALL of the counties, ALL of the time”. If you limit yourself to one or two counties, you will quickly become disappointed and here is why:

All counties hold their auctions on different days and different intervals (weekly, monthly, every 2 months, etc). There are typically auctions every Monday through Thursday and occasionally some on Friday (but very few).

We provide surplus for every county that has their auctions online plus 7 that hold auctions offline (Total of about 46 counties out of 67 … View which counties here) and here is a general outlook on how many records we get each week from ALL of those counties combined…

Starting each week, there are about 300-600 tax deeds headed to auctions.

Before an auction even starts, roughly 50% of them get redeemed by the owner (they pay their taxes and save their property from being auctioned).

So then, we watch the auctions that are left to get the ending bid and determine IF there is surplus money left over.

Within those, about 20% receive NO bids and therefore produce no surplus.
10% receive bids but the surplus is not over $1000 so we don’t bother.

That leaves 20% (The actual average is about 125/week) where:

Auction actually happened AND
Surplus is over $1000 (anything less is really not worth going after)

The Monthly Average amount in surplus on our records is $10,000,000.00

THOSE go on our Surplus List and this is pretty much the list you could buy anywhere else or that the county will put out themselves months later. It is a bare bones list that is almost useless if you do not know what you are doing. No information on the Property Owner or any liens.

We then we add the Owner and their mailing address, plus locate and download the Property Information Report for you and research any liens on the property that could take the surplus.

In short, the records get dwindled down so much that you need all you can get your hands on from as many counties as possible, to make an impact and do well in this business.

Trying to stick with just one county will not do you any good.

There is ONE exception to this rule. You can go after the records in counties where they hold their auctions in person and they do not provide their tax deed documents and claim information online. These would be the counties that are the least saturated with asset recovery companies because so much more work is involved and in-person visits to the Clerks office are needed. If you happen to live in or near one of those counties, I would highly recommend you digging in there.

New counties are going online with their auctions all the time.

However as of right now (7/2025) here is a list of the in-person auction counties that do not provide their documents online, therefore would be the least saturated by asset recovery companies who do not live near them.

  • Bradford County
  • Columbia County
  • DeSoto County
  • Dixie County
  • Franklin County
  • Gadsden County
  • Glades County
  • Hamilton County
  • Hardee County
  • Holmes County
  • Jefferson County
  • Lafayette County
  • Liberty County
  • Madison County
  • Sumter County
  • Suwannee County
  • Taylor County
  • Union County
  • Wakulla County

How do I know if a claim has been made on any of the records?

We create the list right after the auction, so at the point when we send the new records, you are guaranteed there has been no claim. However, the more time that passes after the auction, you ARE taking a chance that a claim was put in. This is why it is imperative you act fast on new records.

Visit the County page for where the record came from and watch the video we created that shows you how to do this.

 

How do I approach the previous owner with this information?

This question falls more into the ‘salesmanship’ arena, which we do not teach. The methods you use to approach a previous owner will come to be customized by you and you will learn by doing. You will try, succeed or fail, learn and move on to the next. There is most definitely no ONE answer to how to handle this part. Over time you will get a feel for what to say to who by what they are saying to you. This is why this training website and the records we give you are so great… it gives you a chance to really practice over and over with records that have low or no competition with large Asset Recovery companies.

There are some people who will receive a letter from you and be 100% in. They will call you and be ready for action. Then there are others who will have 20 questions before continuing and then others who will assume it is a scam the moment they hear your voice. Don’t give up, they are ALL learning experiences!!

 

How are Checks from the County handled?

For when using Contingency Agreements and Power of Attorney

On the surplus claim form you put the property owners name but then for mailing address you put
C/O Your Biz Name
Your Biz mailing address

There are banks that accept 3rd party checks, especially since its a check from a government entity (the county).

The following banks and credit unions are among those that currently accept third-party checks. However, before simply opening an account with a bank, tell them specifically what may happen and ask if they allow it. Tell them a county will send a check to you, but made payable to your client. Your client will endorse the check to you for deposit into your bank account.

  • Citibank
  • Navy Federal Credit Union (only when deposited to a business account)
  • Bank of America
  • Chase Bank
  • HSBC Bank
  • US Bank
  • Chartway Federal Credit Union
  • Connexus Credit Union
  • First National Bank

Now, instead of a Contingency Agreement + Power of Attorney Form, if you have the property owner sign an Assignment of Interest Form, then the county will put your name on the check because you are now the owner of the surplus funds.

Specific to Florida Counties

Which Counties are on our surplus lists?

We keep an updated list of the counties we track here.

 

What is the Cycle of a Tax Deed from beginning to end?

Each year, property taxes are due on April 1. If they remain unpaid, the county puts them into a Tax Lien Certificate Auction.
In May or June, the county will hold the auction. Bidders bid on a percentage of interest they are willing to accept. The winning bidder pays the late property taxes. When/If the property owner redeems (pays their late taxes), the Certificate Holder receives their original investment plus the percentage points they bid. Once a Tax Lien Certificate is issued, the certificate holder has to wait at least 2 years (but no longer than 7 years) to file an Application For Tax Deed.
If the property taxes remain unpaid in those years, a Certificate Auction is held each year and there are new high bidders, so there are typically multiple Certificate Holders. Any one of them can file the Application For Tax Deed, which will force the county to schedule a Tax Deed Auction for that property.
The starting bid of the property includes all of the property taxes owed, plus various fees from the county. If the property has a Homestead Exemption (the property owner actually lives in the home), then half of the assessed value is also added to the starting bid.
If there are No Bids in the 1st auction, the Certificate Holder has the option to pay the starting bid and receive a Tax Deed for the property (they would now own the property). They have 30 days in which to do this. If they do not pay, the county will schedule a 2nd auction within the next 30 days)
If there are No Bids in the 2nd auction, again the Certificate Holder has the option to pay the starting bid and receive a Tax Deed for the property (they would now own the property). They have 30 days in which to do this. If they do not pay, the property goes to the “Lands Available”.
Each county maintains a “List of Lands” or “Lands Available for Taxes” where anyone can purchase it for the amount of taxes owed, plus various fees. The property will remain on the List of Lands for 3 years before it is escheated (handed over) to the County.
Now the county owns the property free and clear. Typically property that made it this far in the cycle is undesirable. No one bid on it, no one wanted it.
If there are bids on the property in the Tax Deed Auction, the high bidder receives a Tax Deed to the property, they now own it. They are a “3rd Party Bidder”. Any amount the high bid is over the amount of the starting bid is called Excess Proceeds, Surplus or Overages. This money is due back to the property owner.
The website you are on (TaxAuctionSurplus.com) supplies property records that are here within the cycle. The Tax Deed Auction ended. There are successful bids with excess proceeds available to the previous property owner. Any liens that may be on the property need to be researched by you to decide if the record is worth pursuing.
Any lien holders can file a claim for that surplus within 120 days after the county mails the Surplus Notice out to the interested parties. These liens can include Mortgages, Government Fines, IRS Liens, Judgments and HOA Fees. If they do not make a timely claim, then they are barred forever from making a claim (except the IRS, they do not have a deadline)

If Hundreds of Tax Deeds go to auction every week in Florida.. why are there not hundreds of surplus records each week?

We collect records from most Florida counties. When the week begins we collect the records from all the tax deeds that are supposed to go to auction that week.

From that point on, several things happen that reduce the amount of surplus records we will have at the end of the week.

  • Before the auction begins many of the tax deeds are redeemed as people are paying their back taxes before they lose their home so that takes a lot out of the auction.
  • During the auction, some of the tax deeds will get no bids and therefore not sell Some of the tax deeds DO sell but for only a small amount over the starting bid. Therefore, not enough in Surplus to go after.

We offer records where the surplus is over $1,000 Now we are left with “Tax Deeds that successfully sold AND the winning bid was high enough to produce at least $1,000 in surplus”.

 

How long does it take to start making money from this business?

We would not be able to answer exactly because we have no idea how well YOU work or how soon YOU can locate a potential client from our surplus lists.
So however long that takes PLUS, what is written below:

Let’s say an auction ended yesterday and produced good surplus. If you located the previous owner tomorrow and had them sign your contracts this week, it would still be approximately 130-210 days before you receive a check from the county.

After the auction, the county has 90 days to deal with everything on their end and mail out a surplus notice.
Then all lien holders have 120 days to put in a claim.

So from the moment you sign a client, you could expect income in roughly 4-7 months.

If you work older records where the lien claim deadline has already passed (like from the ‘LDP Reports’ we create on SurplusDatabasePro.com), then you could see a check in as little as 2 weeks. More realistically it would be 30 days. This Report shows you all records where the liens expired ‘Last Week’, created every Monday (Florida). We re-research these records to see IF any claims were made and how much in surplus is left (which at this point would be completely owed to the previous property owner since the lien-claim deadline has passed)

 

 

How long does a homeowner have to claim overbid funds once property has been sold? How long do Lienholders have to claim overbid funds after property has been sold?

We find that each county interprets the Florida Statues about tax deed sales differently and when one county may answer that question one way, the next county has a different answer.

However, in general terms, the county will hold the unclaimed surplus for a year and then turn it over to the state of Florida. The Property Owner can still claim it when it goes to the state, there is never a deadline for the property owner, only lien holders.

ALL lienholders (except the IRS) will have just 120 Days (from the date the surplus notice was mailed) to put in their claim of they are forever barred from doing so and the entire surplus amount is owed to the previous owner.

To make completely sure the lien holder deadline has passed, consider 210 days (90 days for the county to ‘do their thing and get the surplus notice mailed’ + 120 Days) after the date of the auction to be the actual lien holder deadline.

Florida has VERY OPEN public record laws. You can call or email ANY of the counties Clerk of Court offices and they will answer your questions based on their own county. We have contact information in your Account Area

Does Homestead Status matter when it comes to Florida Tax Deed Surplus

When determining the opening bid, a county takes into account if the property is homestead. If it IS, then 1/2 of the Assessed value of the property is added to the Opening Bid. That shows BIDDERS what they need to start the bidding. However, for the purposes of collecting surplus after the auction, that ‘1/2 of the assessed value’ also goes to the previous owner/lienholders/mortgage company (whoever is claiming the surplus).

No matter what the starting bid and ending bid is, the county only recovers their past due property tax and that’s it. The rest is surplus.

Example:

Late Property Taxes: $5,000
Homestead Property Value: $100,000
Starting Bid will be: $55,000 (Amt of Taxes PLUS 1/2 assessed value)
Property sells at auction for: $55,100 < Likely MUCH more since the assessed value is $100k

You may glance at that and see Starting Bid $55,000, Ending Bid $55,100 so the surplus is only $100 – definitely not worth pursuing

However, the surplus is actually $50,100 because THAT is the amount the property sold for over and above the amount due in property taxes.

Do I have to live in Florida or have a business registered in Florida to work with Florida Tax Deed Surplus?

No to both. There will come a time when your client (the person owed the surplus) will need to sign documents and have them notarized, so being able to go in person to them is a big plus. However, unless you live within driving distance, it doesn’t matter if you are 100 miles or 1200 miles from them, the process would be the same. You would need to mail documents to them so they can sign and return them to you. Or, better yet, we highly recommend hiring ‘Mobile Notaries‘ to visit the person.

Do I have to be a Lawyer or Private Investigator to work with Florida Tax Deed Surplus?

No to both. A lot of people are under the impression that you do. However, that is pertaining ONLY to unclaimed property being held by the STATE unclaimed property division shown on https://www.fltreasurehunt.gov

Tax Deed Surplus is held by the individual counties and are governed by their own laws. You do not even have to have a business license (but we suggest you do).

General FAQ

Why can’t I just use the surplus lists the counties post on their website?

You can but the first issue is that people who obtain lists from us have already had their hands on those records since the actual auction date. Then there are other problems:

First, not all counties put a list up on their website. In fact, most do not. Some will put a PDF list up once a year, others have a search form to search records.

However, the information the county provides on their “lists and records” is not user-friendly to asset recovery companies. The lists they provide are meant for the previous owners to look and see if they have surplus.

There is not enough information to be helpful to asset recovery companies.

For example, the county list will provide something like:

Case # Auction Date Parcel ID Surplus Amount
2017-4515TD 8/20/2016 00012854J62A4 $25,621.55

If you were the previous owner of that property, you know that is the Parcel Number of your property and therefore, you found surplus for yourself. However, as an Asset Recovery person, the above information doesn’t help you. Using what the county gives, you will need to:

  • Look up the Parcel ID on the Property Appraisers website and find out who the owner was at the time of the auction. So you have to look back at the sale date (8/20/2016). If you look at the Property Appraisers site, it will show you who owns it now, NOT the person who owned it at the time of the sale… so you have to go deeper and look at the sale date that matches the auction date to find the correct owner who is entitled to the surplus.
  • Locate the Tax Deed documents pertaining to the Case # and within those documents, find the Ownership & Encumbrance Report or Title Report that the county was obligated to create at the time of the auction so all owners and lienholders could be notified. Therefore, you are able to see if there are liens or mortgages on the property that would be entitled to the surplus before the previous owner. Plus you may find additional addresses for the owner to help you locate them because they highly likely no longer live at the property that was auctioned off. (We say ‘highly likely’ because it is possible the person who purchased the tax deed at auction allowed them to continue living at the property in exchange for rent)

Performing those tasks above takes a tremendous amount of time. Therefore, after you have spent so much time on the above, you STILL have to deal with convincing the previous owner to hire you and putting in a claim with the county. Meanwhile, a whole new batch of surplus records is ready and waiting for you to begin with. It can quickly overwhelm you.

Can you begin to see why we say there is no over-saturation? There are massive amounts of auctions, records, documents and more to where it can become too much to handle and people give up trying to keep up.

We are always asked “Aren’t there a lot of people doing this already?” The answer is “No. But there are a lot of people TRYING to do this”. It takes good communication skills, research, organization and persistence. People who jump in thinking this is a get-rich-quick business or a zero-work way to make money are swiftly disappointed.

You can use the surplus records we supply on this website or you can use our website to help you research the surplus records you obtain from other websites. Our Tools and Resources help you tremendously, saving you so much time so you are free to focus on the parts you do best.

Is there a lot of competition?

We are always asked “Aren’t there a lot of people doing this already?”

The answer is “No. But there are a lot of people TRYING to do this”.

It takes good communication skills, research, organization and persistence. People who jump in thinking this is a get-rich-quick business or a zero-work way to make money are swiftly disappointed.

First and most importantly, no matter how many people have access to good surplus records, the ultimate question is not “How many people have this record”… It is “How can I win this client?“. There are multiple strategies of competition: Lower percentage fees, visiting potential client in person, developing a good relationship over the phone, constant contact, services beyond surplus recovery, etc.
Second, with surplus records, there is a new set of records 4-5 Days a week / every week. Each surplus record is a brand new person/possible client. There is no repeat of potential clients (well, sometimes there is since a person can own more than one property that goes to a tax deed auction). Also, now with the new Florida Statute in effect, lien holders have only 120 days to put in a claim or are barred forever, therefore there is a big push to gain the lien holders as clients as well. So it isn’t as if ALL Asset Recovery Businesses are fighting over a set amount of 100 clients and once the clients are all chosen, there are no more.
If you are looking at other methods of obtaining surplus records, they ALL create competition.
So while the short answer is ‘yes, you will have competition’, the correct answer is “if you are going to be in this business at all and have any chance of success, you HAVE TO get to and process the surplus records long before the county releases them and our website is the answer’.

If YOU found a county’s old surplus list laying around somewhere, you can’t think you are the only one who found it. Our method has a lot less competition that those surplus lists given a month or year after the auction.

Once you receive your surplus records, there is a LOT of other work you have to still do: Locate potential client(s), gather necessary paperwork, submit claim to the county, track the claim, etc. Therefore, having a new set of fresh records every auction day can quickly become overwhelming. With all this in mind, we believe there are plenty of surplus records and potential clients to go around.

Another thing to consider is that after you are using our system for awhile, you become much more familiar with how everything works with Asset Recovery and therefore it is easier to branch off to other states.

Is TaxAuctionSurplus.com affiliated with Bob Diamond, Overages Blueprint, Shawn Buige, Surplus Funds Riches, Nick Fullmer, Overage Syndicate, Eric Richardson, Money Making Juggernaut

When we began this service in 2015, we had never heard of them and some did not exist yet. However, this has ultimately become one of our most asked questions.

We are not affiliated with any other ‘tax deed surplus’ business out there.

We own the following:

  • TaxAuctionSurplus.com
  • SurplusDatabase.com
  • SurplusDatabasePro.com
  • FloridaTaxAuction.com
  • MortgageAuctionSurplus.com
  • and a few other domain names that we are currently not using.

We get asked to compare ourselves with their service or review them but we cannot since none of us here use their services. The only thing we can offer in comparison is that we supply our clients with daily surplus lists we create from the auctions we watch live. We also supply the property owners name and mailing address as well as the Property Information Reports from the counties. The lists we create are sold on Tax Auction Surplus. We also have the Lien & Owner Lookup Tool and Claim Package Creator here on TaxAuctionSurplus.com

Nick Fullmer (Overage Syndicate) and Eric Richardson (Money Making Juggernaut) were both clients of ours for years but branched off to do their own thing and both seem to be doing very well. They both have training videos that are excellent! We have a few of them linked around this website to help you understand certain topics better. Most of their training is in broad strokes but with valuable information. Our training is very specific to Florida Counties and dives deep into everything relating to the recovery of tax deed surplus in these 67 counties.

We have spoken with Wallace of TaxSaleResults.com and think very highly of him and his website, which is why we mention it so often. We feel that once you deeply learn the whole system and how it works in Florida, it’s easier to apply that knowledge to other states. Laws, Redemption timeframes, forms and publicly available documents will vary from state to state, but the basic principal is the same and our training will help you realize WHAT you need to look for and WHERE when dealing with other states.

Counties outside of Florida

Counties in other states are harder for us to produce surplus lists because other states/county auctions do not work currently like Florida (Live auctions, Property Information Reports online, No redemption period after the auction).

We could go grab the lists from counties and offer them but there is already a company doing a fantastic job in that area. Visit Tax Sale Results for lists from counties outside of Florida. Yes, they do also have Florida lists, but they really need enhancements. We have the Property Information Reports, Lien details, Owner names and mailing addresses, claim forms, client forms and much more. You can also purchase Florida lists that we provide here on our website. Our lists are available faster than on Tax Sale Results and already come with the Owner information.

Are YOU an Asset Recovery Business? Are you going after potential clients?

100% no! There is also NO cherry-picking of records. Everyone receives them all! We focus solely on supplying Surplus Records, Property Information Reports (O&E or Title Reports) and Lien Research.

Another Company is selling surplus lists for $39.95 a month. Can’t I use those?

Sure but you are not done. They will give you a “list” of information that you can easily pull right off a county website for free but you still need much more information before you can even begin to use that record.  This is why we offer the services and tools that we do here. We can add Owners, Mailing Address, Property Address, Lien details, Property Information Reports and more to your bare-bones list.

Please take note, we are talking about Florida Only! There are different laws and statutes regarding tax deed surplus in other states and counties. There may be a list provider for another state that does not require lienholders to be paid first. We are not talking about them. Our training pertains to Florida.

Although Florida Surplus Asset Recovery can seem intimidating with the statutes and liens, the state also has the most open public record laws in the country. You are able to get your hands on every document and piece of information you need concerning the property, owners and liens.

If you want to work other states besides Florida, we highly recommend TaxSaleResults.com

WHAT WE DO NOT DO

WHAT WE DO NOT DO

1. We do not skip trace/locate the property owners for you.
We provide the mailing address as it was on file with the county at the time of the auction.

2. We do not instruct you in the “salesmanship” areas of Asset Recovery.
We are not asset recovery specialists ourselves and would not be your best option for training in those areas. You must know and learn what to say to whom to obtain the client. We specifically supply surplus records and research!

3. We do not have specific lawyers to use (if you need one)
You do not need a lawyer to perform this business in Florida. However, there are times you may need one such as when the owner is deceased but their estate has not gone through probate. However, from being in the county tax deed documents all the time, we compiled a list of lawyers that have been involved in some surplus claim cases. You’ll find this document linked in your account area. It is called “Locate-a-Lawyer.pdf”

4. We do not make or take phone calls, at all.
We will not perform any service that requires phone calls to be made to the counties. We also do not accept phone calls or call requests from our clients. We receive too many call requests to honor them all because we would never have time to actually do the work to produce our records, so we made the decision to eliminate that service.

Yes, other companies do take your phone calls but that is because they are selling static, un-changing information & training. They have all the time in the world to be on the phone and make a sale. What we provide requires constant work, creating lists, downloading documents, researching liens, etc.

We are neck-deep in records and lien research 7 days a week. The cycle never ends. Once a week is over, it’s time to begin the tasks for the upcoming week. We have a Client Support Desk online to assist you with whatever you need and we answer extremely fast.