All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

@Nfrtari Ramesra, you can go online to justonelook.com and see the status online.  Go to the Alabama Administrative Office of Courts website. You'll see a link for e-file, which lets you file your own lawsuits electronically and manage them electronically and get email notifications when the other side files something or the judge issues an order. You sign up for that online, but then you have to take a form to the local courthouse to confirm your identity before you can use it. So, that won't work right now. But, the "just one look" link over to the right lets you pay a fee to look at any case at all and see what is happening with it. So, click on that link.

@Ahmad Moore, if you have a tax deed there is no problem getting insurance from any insurance company. If there is a massive casualty, you get the insurance proceeds, not the taxpayer. If the taxpayer redeems after the loss, they get a wreck of a piece of real estate, that's all. And, they have to reimburse you for the cost of the casualty insurance, plus interest.

@Shirea Carroll, it is critically important to find out who made the improvements and who the tenants are paying.  If the taxpayer/owner, then there is practically 0% chance you will be able to eject successfully. The owner will counterclaim and redeem, and you will have lost the premium above redemption amount that you paid to acquire the property.

If someone is not willing to disclose information relevant to making a buying decision, then turn and run away from them as fast as you can!

@Shirea Carroll, I would be very hesitant to buy certificates from the wholesalers. First, you can't ever be sure the property is abandoned, rather than merely vacant and in bad shape. If merely vacant and in bad shape, you will have to give written notice to surrender possession, wait six months, and then file your ejectment lawsuit. That will cost around $1,000.  You cannot make any improvements until then. If they redeem, they will pay only the taxes and interest, not any add-on fees you had to pay. PLUS, anyone buying now from ADOR is quoted a price that includes the October 1, 2020 taxes. They are not even due yet!  You might not be paid for that portion.  YOu can contact the county and ask what the redemption price tag is, or many counties have that on their tax assessor websites. That redemption price will not include the October 1, 2020 taxes, so you won't know exactly how much the investor paid, but you can get pretty close.  You can usually estimate how much the coming year's taxes are going to be.

@Account Closed, not  a loophole. Some people are teaching classes on how "you to can be a tax sale wholesaler." So now a LOT of people are flooding the market with price quotes they've gotten from ADOR, trying to flip them, usually at a $2,000 markup over acquisition cost and, by the way, redemption price.  Although, technically, if you bought at tax certificate from ADOR today, it would include the amount that will become due on October 1, 2020. But it's not actually due today. So, under the redemption laws, a redeeming party would not have to reimburse you for that amount, just the taxes already accrued, plus interest.

The wholesalers are getting price quotes from State of Alabama and trying to flip their deeds and certificates before their 20 days is up to purchase on the price quote. BUT, they've put in multiple price quotes, so when their 20 days expires and ADOR goes to the next person in line, they are ALSO the NEXT person in line. There are many problems with the certificate and deeds. Please read my blog posts and forum answers. If you don't know what you are doing, you can get hurt very badly. It is NOTHING like investing in other states. All of the rules are different. You cannot analogize.

@William Watt

• Having a tax deed does not make you immune from redemption rights.  Please read my forum posts and blog articles on the subject of judicial redemption rights in Alabama.
• Anyone with an interest in the real estate can redeem. That means former owner, former certificate owners, lienholders, etc.  That is the only fair thing, to let them protect their initial investment by paying extra money to redeem from the tax sale, even if it is an earlier investor redeeming from a later auction when they failed to pay the taxes.
• You protect yourself the same way you protect yourself from former owners or their heirs redeeming--you establish exclusive possession, you burn off redemption rights, you buy out people's rights, you engage in strategic litigation to eliminate rights, etc.

@William Watt, I know you've already sent me an email directly on this issue, which I answered. But now I'm wondering, what are the details of this "messed up" and "parachute?"  Please let me know details. If you don't want the whole world to know, send them in an email.

@Reggie Withers, you should read all of my blog and forum posts on BP, plus there are resources on my website, at www.TaxSales-Alabama.com.

As of March 18, 2020, there are no current plans to postpone any of the Alabama county tax auctions.  Shelby County goes out first on April 1 with its tax lien auction. The largest volume is in Jefferson County (both Birmingham and Bessemer divisions) on May 19 with its tax certificate auction. Both say they are still on schedule. That could change. As I get new information, or if anyone else gets FIRM info (not hearsay) please let us all know.

Alabama Department of Revenue Land Sales Division is still operating with full staff, although some are working from home. Their problem is not COVID-19, but the firestorm of price requests from wholesalers hoping to tie up a property on a 20-day price quote, and then attempt to find a buyer.  Average price quote volume for tax certificates and tax deeds combined used to be 1,200 per month. As people (not me) started teaching classes about how to turn in hundreds of price requests at a time with attempted flips, volume skyrocketed to an average of 15,000 per month. Last month, they received 23,000 requests.  ADOR personnel cannot possibly process that many, and are working on solutions to trim out the people asking for price quotes "on a wing and a prayer." Those are my words, not theirs:)