Glossary / Assignment (of a lien)

Assignment (of a lien)

Why sell? Liquidity, portfolio rebalancing, or an unwillingness to fund the foreclosure endgame. Why buy? Seasoned paper: part of the waiting period has already run (a Florida certificate bought in year two may be near deed-application eligibility), and the redemption picture is partly revealed. The assigned certificate carries its history: the rate struck at the original sale, the redemption clock from the original date, and fuses like Florida's seven-year life or Indiana's petition deadline — none of which reset on transfer.

Diligence on an assignment is diligence on someone else's purchase: verify the certificate's validity and amounts with the county, confirm subsequent-tax status, calendar every deadline from original dates, and price the remaining timeline honestly. The county's records — not the seller's spreadsheet — are the source of truth for what you're actually buying.

Assignment pricing is a small masterclass in time value. A certificate's price reflects its remaining timeline (distance to foreclosure eligibility and to expiry), the redemption likelihood revealed so far, subsequent taxes paid and owed, and the assignability mechanics the county requires — some transfers record with the collector, and the county's recognition of the new holder controls who gets redemption proceeds. Sellers who skip the endgame (investors who bought yield and dread litigation) meet buyers who specialize in it; the spread between them is the secondary market's engine. Buyers: re-verify the certificate's standing with the issuing county as of the assignment date — amounts, subsequent-tax status and deadline math from the original sale — because an assignment conveys the position as it is, including its mistakes.

In practice: Government-held inventory reaches investors by related mechanics: Arizona's state-assigned liens resell through Bid4Assets; Florida county-held (struck) certificates sell over the counter at 18% — both are, in effect, the government's own assignments to the public.

Definitions verified 2026-10-30 against the sourced state-law dataset. Educational only, not legal advice.