Real Estate Conundrum

Seeing that I'm still in the teething stages of this Real Estate game, I ran across something here in my neighborhood and I would appreciate some advice.

SITUATION:

1) I was doing a tax record search and I ran across a property that caught my interest.

2) The house was deeded as "Estate of XYZ".

3) Did more research of Mr. XYS via online public records.

4) It seems like Mr. XYZ's mother deeded the house to both him and his brother before her death.

5) Mr. XYZ's brother lives in Iowa and has quitclaimed the property to Mr. XYZ after their mother's death.

6) Now, Mr. XYZ passed away.

7) There was no will...nothing indicating that he was married or had children or grandchildren.

8) The property owes back taxes of $32K, meaning that not only was Mr. XYZ not paying taxes on said property, but his mother didn't either, it would seem.

I am interested in this property and I would like to buy it. I have a few questions to ask you folks...

Q #1) How can you buy the property if there were no known heirs?

Q #2) Can the brother claim the property even though he waived all interest in the property via quitclaim?

Q #3) Have any of you guys come across such a situation? If so, did you buy the house similarly situated? If so, how did you accomplish that?

Thank you all for any and all replies!

Happy Holidays!

Sharad M.

Real Estate Investor · Chicago, Illinois

Donor

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Dec 17 '11, 01:00 PM

Hi Shaunda,

I have not experienced any such situation, but wouldn't you be able to purchase this property at tax sale? In my county if the owner misses 3 tax payments, then the property goes to tax sale.

Kyle Meyers

Residential Landlord · Indianapolis, Indiana

533 posts
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Dec 17 '11, 01:18 PM

Check the intestate laws in your state. I took a quick look and I think the property would go to Mr. XYZ's siblings. You could contact them about purchasing the property. As Sharad suggested, you could also look into buying it through a tax sale.

Shunda Walker

Wholesaler · Dallas, Texas

23 posts
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Dec 17 '11, 03:06 PM

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

I thought about the tax sale also, but I thought in order for the county to sell it, it fist had to sue the owner (who is deceased) for the taxes before it went into tax foreclosure. From the looks of things, taxes haven't been paid for at least 20 years. Why haven't the taxman went after this property long before now is a mystery in itself.

As for Mr. XYZ's sibling, the only sibling he had is a brother that lives in Iowa. As I have stated before, the brother filed a quitclaim deed after the mother (the original owner) died (after her husband passed away years before). There is no other known siblings as the quitclaim deed listed only those two. I searched to find if there were any other siblings. So far, nothing.

The quitclaim deed barred the brother, his heirs, assigns, successors, etc. from claiming the property.

To date, the only heirs that were listed in the quitclaim deed were the two brothers...the deed also stated that there were no other known children.

Thanks!

Dave T

Real Estate Investor · South Carolina

434 posts
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Jan 04, 11:25 PM

Originally posted by Shunda Walker

The quitclaim deed barred the brother, his heirs, assigns, successors, etc. from claiming the property.

The brother, as the only surviving heir, is going to be the eventual owner. Once the property goes through probate, the surviving brother inherits. The deed restriction does not prohibit the brother from inheriting.

Your problem with this property is the back taxes. Even if you buy from the surviving brother after the probate process is concluded, someone will still have to contend with the property tax bill.