All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

Jocelyn, when you say you are "in the process of foreclosing" do you mean you have filed a judicial foreclosure lawsuit to foreclose tax liens you own?  Or, do you mean you are waiting for your tax certificate to turn into a tax deed? It makes a huge difference to my answer.

R/S on the tax assessor's records usually means Right of Survivorship.  As, title is held in husband and wife's name with right of survivorship, but only the husband's name is on the tax assessor's record. The R/S indicates another person's name is also on the title.

Three years of post-deed adverse possession results in the statute of limitations running against the original owner or heirs. They are no longer able to claim the tax sale was void.  They can certainly file a lawsuit and claim it was void, but you would answer that lawsuit with an affirmative defense of the short statute of limitations.

Things might be different in different states. This is Alabama, which I think might be the case in most other states. The property manager is the agent of the owner/investor.  Everything the agent owns or generates belongs to the property owner., who is the principal.  That is general agency law 101.  Upon request, they must all be turned over. Sometimes a property management contract will say the manager does NOT have to turn over certain things. If the owner/investor signed such a contract, they are stuck with the language in the contract and cannot rely on general principles of agency law.

No problems.  If your parents already quieted title or obtained quitclaim deeds from former owners, you can donate and the donee can get title insurance.  If not, you can still donate but the donee will not get title insurance. Generally a church in the neighborhood is a willing donee because they can use sweat equity and donated materials to make the property habitable again and either sell it or rent at below-market rents to someone in the church who needs that assistance.

You can donate them. If you donate them to a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, you can get a tax deduction equal to the current fair market value of property, no matter what your parents paid and no matter whether title has been quieted or not.  

The tax deduction is limited to 30% of your adjusted gross income. For example, if you wanted to take a charitable deduction for $100,000, but your adjusted gross income was only $90,000, then the maximum deduction for that year would be $30,000.  The remaining $70,000 would be  carried over to the next year, when you take another look at AGI to see how much deduction you can take. You can continue to roll over for up to 5 years.

If you cannot use the charitable deduction, you can sometimes sell the properties to a high income individual who CAN use them.  If someboy were in the 37% tax bracket, they would owe $37,000 on $100,000 of AGI.  They would gladly pay you $10,000 or $15,000 to save the $37,000. They have to hold the deeds for at least one year, though, before donating. Your holding period is added together with your parents' holding period, so I'm sure you have already met the 1 year requirement.

To take the deduction, it does require an appraisal and a tax form signed by the appraiser.

I'm in Tuscaloosa, also. Contact me and I can walk you through some other details and maybe look at some other options.

I'm not endorsing Evernest in particular, because I don't do that. However, I do consulting work for a great many property management firms across the state. It is hard and it is complicated. It is not a 9-5 job, or even a 7am to 6pm job. Lunches are often taken late in the day or not at all, because most prospect calls come during lunch.

It is a balancing act between what is legally required under a lease and what is needed to keep a good tenant who has a temporary problem. Not only do you have to devote time to property management, you have to devote time to education in ever-changing laws and financial metrics. You have to know enough to stay competitive in amenities and software tools. You often have to make split-second decisions without complete information. 

EVERYBODY has problems keeping and retaining employees, so that is another challenge, which usually requires greater investment and self-education in technology.  

All landlord and tenant issues have to be evaluated and balanced among those that are important but non-urgent, important and urgent, and urgent but not all that important.  

As a landlord, you are  part of community that shares your property manager's time and resources with other landlords, without being privy to the decision making regarding allocation of scarce resources. Sharing doesn't always turn out the way you want it, but it sure beats doing everything all by yourself. Especially when your own time and attention is diluted by sharing with family, friends, community, finding additional investments, perhaps a "day job," etc.

I find that communicating unhappiness or frustration with the person in a position to address the situation is usually the best course. That should be followed by an agreed plan of action with deadlines and follow-up.  That should all be in writing. In my experience, most problems are solved after that.

Do you know anybody who has successfully completed a judicial foreclosure lawsuit for an Alabama tax lien, under the new tax sales system?  I'm trying to create a list of problems people have encountered along the way, so others can avoid those problems. Once I have enough input from BP community and others, I'll post my FEP/S (Frequently Encountered Problems & Solutions) list in this thread.  You can reply off-thread via PM if you prefer.  MY FEP/s list will not include any names.

@Joe OHara, you must file an ejectment lawsuit in Circuit Court of the county where the property is located.  If the occupants are tenants of the former owner, and if the property is being used as a residence, then they might be protected by the Protecting Tenants After Foreclosure Act. That would allow them to stay until lease end, provided they pay their rent and are not otherwise in default.  If you research the PTFA, disregard information saying it expired, or was due to expire. The 2009 Act had sunset provisions with automatic expiration. It was extended several times, but then did expire. But, it was later resurrected and the sunset provisions removed.  Bottom line, it DID expire, but then it revived and is now in effect.

There is no form. It can be as simple as "I am now the foreclosure owner of your former property at _________________.  This is your statutory 10-day notice to vacate the property and remove all possessions you want.  If it appears you have already moved some place else, I will secure the property immediately so you cannot gain entry, but you can contact me within that 10 days and make an appointment to remove personal property and surrender your keys." 

Provide your name and address. Do your best to actually get it to the former owner.  Mail  one copy by certified mail to the property address. Maybe they have a forwarding order in place.  Mail one copy by regular mail to the property address. Post one copy on all entry doors.  If you can find them on Facebook, send them a private FB message that says the same thing.

Put a battery-operated deer camera in an inconspicuous place at the end of Day 10, so you can have proof if they come back.  Or, since you are out of state, a wireless cell service router such as Verizon, and a camera, and monitor from where you are. You can set it up so you will get a cell phone alert when the camera senses motion. Be sure to record any entry into the property after the 10 days expires.