What happens if the property owner never pays back the delinquent taxes?
Because the tax lien certificate investment is backed by the real estate for which the tax lien was placed the investor can have access to the property to make their money back. This means that the tax lien investor has the right to foreclose on the property. The property owner has a certain period of time to pay back the taxes plus interest during which the investor collects interest. If the property owner does not pay then the foreclosure option comes into play. This is an awesome opportunity to get properties for pennies on the dollar. This is pretty rare, though. It happens with abandoned homes, forgotten properties, etc. If you want the property then try tax deed investing.
