38 certificates as a deliberately small first block, plus what the servicer earned
I wanted the pipeline before I wanted the yield, so I sized this to be survivable rather than meaningful. $92k, 38 certificates, two counties in one state, one servicer. Average certificate $2,420.
Rules I set before bidding: hard premium cap at 2% of face, nothing on parcels I couldn't find on the county map, no vacant land at all this round. That cost me about a third of the lots I wanted, and I let them go.
Where it stands 16 months in. 31 redeemed, all at the statutory rate, average time to redemption a bit over seven months. Seven are still open. Gross on the redeemed ones works out around 9.1% annualized. Servicer took 1.25% of assets plus $18 per certificate, so call it $1,830 total, which pulls me to roughly 7.4%.
The part that nearly broke it was the seven that stayed open. Subsequent-year taxes came due and the servicer's agreement said they'd "notify" me, which turned out to mean an email in a batch of eleven other emails. I paid the subs with four days left on the window. If I'd been traveling that week I'd be writing a different post.
What I'd keep: the premium cap, and the small count. 38 was enough to see how redemptions actually arrive and small enough that I read every single document. What I'd change: I want the sub-tax dates on my own calendar, not the servicer's.