New to Real Estate 路 Memphis, TN 路 Member since 2017 路 15 posts 路 3 votes
I went out looking for homes that may be wholesale deals. I found a place with boarded up windows and doors. The grass looks like it may have been cut at least once this year. I found the name of the owner on the tax assessors website. It was an older man that died back in late 2012. It shows that the last time taxes were paid on it was in 2013. The website says call clerk & master for amount due. The house looks like it has good bones, and it is in a great neighborhood.
I'm not sure where to go from here. This could be my first wholesale deal. Anyone have any advice on what I should do?
Commercial Real Estate Broker 路 memphis, TN 路 Member since 2017 路 60 posts 路 24 votes
7y
First go to the state website and find the addresses of meth lab houses. I start there since can be a very expensive undertaking. Then check to see if it is on a tax sale list or on the unsold tax lien property list kept by the county or the county land bank.
You can also find documents on the Shelby County recorders site regarding any loans that were taken out. If all looks clean exceot for unpaid taxes, then it becomes a search for possible heirs who may exist and have inheritance rights. It's basically a jigsaw puzzle that you find a piece at a time.
You have to either go this route, find heirs and get quit claims or other documents signed by them so you can get title or find out when it will be scheduled for a tax sale and be ready to bid. You may find that someone purchased it at a tax sale and is in the redemption period. If you win the bid at a tax sale you then go through a waiting period that allows relatives or anyone else who has a legal claim to the property to come forward and pay the taxes plus interest to you or not do anything and let property go to you and you get a special deed.
There are quarterly or every 6 months tax lien sales. Typically about 45 days or so before the sale there is a workshop you can attend to understand the process and register on the website where tax sale properties are posted.
Good luck and I hope you find a solution and will share it with us.