All Forum Posts by: Chris K.

Sort of unrelated to the latests posts in this thread, but ... I spoke with my attorney after I made this thread, and asked him a lot of questions about tax properties. In short, he told me that my options were :

#1 Hold the property for a year, at which time the title could be insured, and I could sell it to an end buyer, transferring the title insurance to them.

#2 Do a quiet title - if the property were worth it, and the numbers worked out. Could be a long drawn out process, and not something he recommended getting involved in

And, to add, I later looked at a property that was acquired by another investor at a judicial sale. I went to the courthouse to find that the property had an "environmental lien" for $19K. The EPA could give me no answers as to whether or not it was still in place, and told me to contact an attorney. I bet that the guy had a mess trying to get it all worked out. The EPA did say that any issues with the "spill" that happened on the property years earlier would be the responsibility of the new homeowner (me)- for the rest of time (to pay for cleanup costs) Like, if the neighbors found gasoline in their well, or if they started to work on the roads nearby and found gasoline contamination in the ground. I'm sure that Environmental liens are pretty rare, but its good to know.

The advice is generally correct, but you should note that a title company may issue a policy with exceptions to the defective notice. If so, that wouldn't help you or the buyer.

There are similar concerns with filing a quiet-title action. If you get a default judgment, you may be able to clean up some interests that are burdening the property. But there is no guarantee that it will work.

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HI @Spencer Liddic:

Welcome to the forum. I am a practicing attorney in the area who has handled various real estate matters. Most of my work involves large scale commercial projects, but I am delving into buy-and-hold investing in the area.

My understanding is that we do have a real estate investing group in the area: https://www.facebook.com/WVREIA/

I unfortunately have not had a chance to go, but planning to do so. Shoot me a message if you would like to chat.

Chris

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Hi @Minghao Shao:

@Mark Fedorov is probably correct that GDP gets highers as you get closer to Philly. I would say most renters in NEPA are not high income people --- although there are some exceptions. This makes sense since folks who make good income in the area can buy very nice homes for a relatively cheap price.

This is not to say that NEPA lacks a rental market. I would be happy to discuss further if you message me.

Chris

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Hi Jesse:

Fellow investor from NEPA here. Congratulations on the two properties!

Chris

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Dear BiggerPockets:

I hope you guys are well. I joined the community a few months ago but didn't get a chance to say hello until now. I am a young lawyer from PA who is interested in learning more about buy-and-hold investing. I am familiar with the legal aspect of real-estate investing since I have worked with clients on many projects including acquisition and sale of large commercial properties (e.g. factories, hotels, and more). But I am still a newbie as an investor. I do have some experience in helping my family manage their properties but not at a “serious” level.

I’m looking forward to meeting you all and learning more about the world of real-estate investing. Thanks!

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All Forum Posts by: Chris K.

Chris K. has started 3 posts and replied 1555 times.

Post: Aquiring property at tax sales- Safe?

Post: Scranton, PA Real Estate- New Member

Post: New RE Investor Interested in NEPA buy and hold

Post: Investor from Scranton, PA!

Post: New Member (Lawyer & Newbie Investor) from Pennsylvania