All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

@Steven Freeman, for the counties still doing certificate sales, you can place an overbid at the auction and receive statutory interest on that portion of your overbid that is equal to, or less than, 15% of the tax appraised value. If you are asking about the investment strategy of tracking down owners of overbid funds, claiming the money, and splitting it, that entire strategy was eradicated by a series of Supreme Court decisions and legislative changes. Now, the only way to get any overbid money is to redeem. When you redeem, you have to PAY the overbid, so getting it back does nothing for you if that is an investment strategy.

@Darryl Patterson, it does not. A court would allow a "reasonable time" which would probably be no more than 30 days.  Referee's findings are not suggestions. They are binding arbitration.

If the referees (or referee and umpire, any two votes) make their decision within the time limits of the statutes, then the investor and the taxpayer are bound by the number for the improvements.  It is called "mandatory binding arbitration."  If they did not make a decision within the 10-day time limits, then it is not binding in my opinion.

If they cannot agree on a value, then the time limits expire and the parties either negotiate to an agreement or sue each other or the redeeming party just goes away because he/she cannot afford the legal fees to fight it.

Even with an agreement by the referees, the redeeming party can still dispute whether something was actually a preservation improvement or not, and can dispute who did the work, investor or taxpayer.

Even with an agreement by the referees, the redeeming party can still dispute whether the possession taken by the investor was lawful or not. If the investor took possession unlawfully, then the redeeming party can claim the investor is not entitled to any payment at all for improvements.

Even with an agreement by the referees, the redeeming party can claim the tax sale was void and the investor is not entitled to be paid at all.

Referees exist to come up with a value for claimed improvements. They are not involved in deciding any legal issues. They are not advocates for one side or the other. They should not fight to make the value as high or as low as possible. They are supposed to be neutral.

Under Alabama law:

(1) Unless the lease provides otherwise, you do not have any rights of access during the lease term and cannot cut the lock and put on your own. There are limited exceptions.

(2) You can ask for permission to enter. Under the Alabama Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act, the tenant is not allowed to unreasonably deny permission. It's apparent to me he is being unreasonable. You can give him a Notice of Default and Opportunity to Cure, and describe the "cure" as allowing you access to confirm the storage of the w/d.  If he does not cure within the stated period, you can terminate and evict. The question is, do you want things to go that far?  If you give the notice and then he does not let you in and you do not terminate and evict, have you lost all credibility for future notices? That's what you have to think about.

(3) There are other exceptions for the "no access" rule, but they don't really apply to your situation.

You DO NOT need to disclose personal property purchases to the closing company. If you were offering an exorbitant amount as a subterfuge for paying more than the short sale price, that would be fraud. If you are buying personal property and access for those things, there is nothing fraudulent.

What state is the property in?

@Murray Miller, its done both ways.

Yes, they can do that.

@Murray Miller, yes they can. I'm sorry.  $2,528 is pretty doggone cheap for a demolition lien, so thank your lucky stars.

I'm retired.  I can refer you to someone, though.