Reply #30: Property tax is an "ad valorum" tax.

[davsand]

Meaning it is based on the value of your home. The value of that property changes over the time you own it--usually upward, but not always.

I can't speak for other states, but in Illinois, a property that has unpaid taxes is on a tax sale only after an effort has been made to collect the taxes--usually for a period of at least one year.

However, (and this is important!)it is a lien on the property that is sold, and it is bid out for the interest percentage that people will pay on the interest. It is NOT the property that is sold! The taxpayer can redeem that with the buyer at anytime. A property's taxes are sold three different years before the actual property is taken. All in all, the average taxpayer should have about five years from the time they don't pay the first tax bill to an actual sale of the house.

I can't get too worked up on that one. YMMV.

Laura