Many times I talk to students who say, "Do you have a step by step process that I can follow for tax lien investing?"  In the website you will find that it is all there; however, there are some things that you have to learn first to understand the actual format that needs to be followed.  So since we have established that there is a learning curve for all new investors, it will be faster for some than others.   When I first started investing I still didn't understand just how to go about it.  So, here are a few basic steps for you to follow. Once you have decided what you want to do, tax liens or tax deeds, or both then you will have a direction to follow.  I always look at the auction calendar to see when the next tax sale auctions are coming up.  I do this because it will let me know, if I want to do over the counter investing, when and where to do it.  Once a county has their tax sale or auction, and it is a tax lien auction, then you can be sure that anything that did not sell, providing that they offer assignment purchasing or over the counter purchasing, will be offered for sale shortly thereafter.  For instance, if Arizona has their sale in the first week of February then the over the counter properties will begin being sold approximately two to three weeks after the sale. Remember the saying that the early bird gets the worm?  This process of over the counter tax lien investing is similar to the saying in that if you get the list before others then you have the first pick of the properties that are available.  As the year goes by it becomes less and less likely to find good deals and towards the end of the year the pickings can be fewer and fewer. So the first thing you want to do is decide where you are investing.  Find out when the auction is on our tax lien auction calendar and then be ready to jump on the left over list shortly after the auction to get the fresh list of properties.  Some of the counties are doing their county held certificates (or over the counter certificates) online and you will be able to find this information from studying the county of interest on the website.  When you use the tools available to you, you will find listings on the website of all the tax lien states in the USA.  This will cut down your research time and make it easier for you to establish when and where you want to invest.  Knowing when the auctions are in any state will help you to grasp a focal point of when you need to be ready to invest.