Sticking It To Unwitting Investors

[Annette Hibbler]

One of my competitors markets houses considerably less than we do. Catch is he is only offering to sell them as Quick Claim deeds. One recent promotion was a SF 3BD/1BA in Detroit area suburbs fully tenanted for $10K. This should send up red flags and alarm bells to any investor. He goes on to say that the quick claim in necessary because there are in fact, 4 years worth of back taxes on the property totally nearly 12K. Then he goes on to say that as an investor, no need to worry about that cause all that's required is you pay only one year's worth to keep it off the tax sales list and carry you can lien indefinitely.

I had to laugh at this advice. How audacious and entirely misleading this guy is. Detroit is clamping down on overdue taxes. Many sellers who bought through tax sales years ago and neglected to remain current on property taxes, are now offering up their inventory as quick claim to make a buck and basically "stick it" to any unwitting investor.

I never purchase quick claim but insist on a full title search and close with a warranty deed. So frustrating to see these guys deliberately trying to dupe investors and too often succeeding. They lure them in with price. Which is why I often warn other investors not to get make price their first and only priority. In my mind, that's a recipe for disaster.

Just saying....