Profiting With Tax Liens & Deeds

By Kevin Mills

The tax sale playbook that tells you the truth: 95-98% of liens redeem, most "$500 house" stories are fiction, and the real opportunity is bigger than the hype.

Kevin Mills bought his first tax lien certificate at a Florida courthouse in 1993. Thirty years and three decades of deals later, he's written the book he wishes someone had handed him back then - one that treats due diligence as a discipline, not an afterthought, and tells you exactly what this business actually pays, not what a late-night infomercial promises.

This isn't a house-flipping fantasy. It's a working investor's manual.

Nineteen chapters and nine appendices take you from "what is a tax lien" through commercial, industrial, multi-family, and agricultural acquisitions, all the way to structuring your exit and your taxes. Every chapter opens with learning objectives and closes with review questions, so you can use this book three ways: read it cover to cover, keep it on your desk as a reference before every auction cycle, or work it like a course.

What sets this apart from the crowded tax-lien-book shelf:

Real legal grounding. A full appendix walks through the actual case law - including Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023) - and ties each holding to a concrete action you take before you bid.
A complete 50-state reference table with actual bid-down increments, redemption windows, and rate structures - not "check your state's laws" hand-waving.
Honest case studies - including the ones where the investor loses money, because a book that only shows wins teaches you the wrong lesson.
Math you can check. Worked examples on interest proration, redemption penalties, and ROI comparisons, down to the dollar.
Ready-to-use templates - due diligence checklists, bid trackers, expense logs, and a state-selection worksheet - built to be copied and filled in, not just read about.

2026 Expanded Edition adds two new case studies, a dedicated mistakes chapter (ten mistakes became fourteen), deeper property-type chapters, and a full walkthrough of how the 2023 Supreme Court surplus-funds ruling reshaped the field.

This book is for you if:
- You've read a "$500 house" blog post and want to know what it actually takes
- You're a self-directed IRA holder exploring alternative assets
- You're a new or intermediate investor who wants the real mechanics, not a listicle
- You're tired of guides that treat due diligence as optional

Due diligence isn't optional, and it isn't something you shortcut once you have experience. This book will teach you to treat it as the discipline that separates the investors who build real wealth from the ones who learn the hard way.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1520386117
• ISBN13: 9781520386119
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"