Help with Redemption of Rental Property in Alabama

[Hallie Renee Conway]

We bought a rental house in Alabama that had been a foreclosure and it was still during the 1 year Right of Redemption period when we bought it. It was foreclosed for 75k, someone flipped the property and we bought it for 200k from them. A company called Asset Preservations bought the Right of Redemption from the foreclosure owner and is now trying to redeem it from us and refused to pay more than 100k during mediation and we have a trial set for July 29th. He says he doesn't have to pay us capital expenses because we didn't actually pay that, the previous owner did. According to our lawyer and case study, our base starting pay back is the 75k + taxes, interest, and insurance and not the 200k we paid so we subpoenaed the previous owner for all of his figures he spent renovating the house. Our mortgage is 150k so I am not sure what will happen if he only gives us 100k. We can't give him a clear title if we can't pay off the mortgage. We also don't have a redemption bond, our mortgage company didn't require it and we didn't even know about it honestly when we bought the property back in 2022 (we've waited this long for mediation and a trial date). Is that a fault of the mortgage company that we didn't get a redemption bond? I suppose we should have done more research but we've bought a foreclosure in the past with no problems and didn't think that would happen, and we assumed that he would have to pay us what we paid for it! My husband and I have 5 rentals, we are not super experienced and just started buying some real estate in 2019. 

He said he would appeal and appeal and appeal until he got it for 100k. Perhaps he just said that to scare us. We've looked at our title insurance and home owners insurance and umbrella policy with no help. PLEASE HELP! Does anyone have any experience with this that can help us?

[Greg Parker]

@Denise Evans can point you in the right direction.

[Denise Evans]

Did they pay the $100,000 into court when they filed their lawsuit? Did they make written demand on you for the value of the post-foreclosure improvements? Short answer, redemption includes the VALUE (not the cost) of post-foreclosure improvements, no matter who made them. Copies of receipts for materials and paid bills for labor are evidence of value, but not essential. An appraiser can testify as to the before and after values, assuming you can tell him what was done.  If the redeeming party failed to pay the money into court when they filed the lawsuit, then the one year did not stop ticking down and now they can't redeem. If you failed to timely and properly respond to the demand for the value of the improvements, then you lost the right to be paid for them. This probably requires a much longer discuss that can be done on this post.

[Hallie Renee Conway]

We do have an appraisal on the property for 200k. They did make a written demand for all of our expenses on the property, which we gave them within the time allotted. There has been no exchange of money yet, we have a trial on July 29th. Do you have any case studies that might help us? Their attorney doesn't seem to think the value matters. Also don't they have to pay all the liens against the property, meaning they would have to pay off the mortgage to get the property? I would love to chat with you if you have some time. 

[Denise Evans]

You can call me, if you want.

[Tish Weaster]

Strongly recommend Denise Evans.  Denise has consulted on several difficult situations for me and has always provided excellent advice and service.  Well worth the consulting dollars.