Property-tax certificates sell fast on Internet [Central Florida]
More than $14 million worth of unpaid property taxes — the most ever for Lake County — were sold off Friday to investors from across the country.
Lake County Tax Collector Bob McKee auctioned off tax certificates for nearly 6,000 properties that did not make the April 1 deadline. It is the third year that McKee has held the sale on the Internet — a high-tech way to make sure the county gets the money it is owed.
The process is simple. When property owners do not pay taxes, the county sells their tax debt to investors, who charge the owners a percentage of interest until the debt is paid. If the debt is not paid off after two years, the investor can request the property be put up for tax sale.
“It’s an extremely efficient methodology,” McKee said.