All Forum Posts by: Mike Bell

@Don Konipol thanks, I currently work with a real estate attorney to do the initial title search of parties with interest in the property but don't believe she dug into the CC&R from the 90s. It was discovered by a guy that does my surveying to mark property lines as a possible issue. 

Thanks for the reply. I have been doing tax liens for a few years now and gotten lucky on the few I have deeded and haven't had any issues beyond a simple title search. Also this property has never been developed at all. It's currently just a wooded lot as it was at the creation of the small neighborhood (4 SFH) in the mid 90s

I bought a small lot via tax lien sale, got the deed. No restrictions came up in title search however property was previously a community owned property. Sold from the HOA in 2004 via tax lien. HOA dissolved in 2005 due to failure to report to the state. Anyone have experience ? I'm going to go back into the court house to see if I can find the old CC&R to see about a dissolution clause. I'm mainly worried about sinking 5-6k into it on land clearing and then the old HOA members saying they still have a right of use. Which they may.

@John Underwood

I have read that and other articles, as well as the HB552 Verbage however am a little confused on the timeline of notices, as well as the sale. ( this is my main question due to not wanting to miss the notices of sale.)

I am also unsure if the county/city and non-profits will have first dibs in general on the properties or if they will be first In line for properties that are not sold at the auction.

Hello all,

I have been doing tax liens in WV for about 4 years now. I am looking for anyone else that is familiar with WV and the recent changes due to the passing of HB 552. Is anyone on here familiar with the changes and wouldn't mind having a conversation to go over them.

Thank you all

@Peter Mckernan

@Mark Davidson

My EMD of 10k will be refunded. After speaking to a few local friends that are much more familiar with real estate auctions and contract laws, it sounds like I just got caught up in a bad situation and came out on the losing end. 2 more days and the contract would have been signed by the sellers and returned to the auctioneer and then I could have made money on the transaction. About 52k in total. But since it was not yet signed. It is not legally binding, the auctioneer chose to give the benefit of the situation to the seller. Sucks on my end for sure. But not much I can do but blame it on bad luck. Thanks for the replies

@Peter Mckernan

The contract I signed seemed pretty basic. I do know it stated that if the contract was breached I lost my 10k deposit. The auctioneer states that if the sellers had already signed and sent the contract back it would be a different story and I would be able to sell the home at my day of closing for right around 52k profit. But since the sellers are out of town the contract had to be mailed to them. Sellers do have a contract with the auctioneer. They did accept the bid over the phone at the completion of the auction which is when I signed the contract. It just doesn’t seem right to me that all parties agreed AT the auction, contract was established, deposit check taken, and then the following day someone else gets tossed into the mix.

Looking for advice. I went to an auction yesterday. Got a great deal on a house, I was the only bidder. Got the house for 280k plus 5 percent to the auctioneer for a total of 294k,which is what the auctioneer said the minimum the family would accept. I wrote them a check for the 10k deposit and signed the contract. Sellers are out of state so the contract had to be mailed to them. Today I got a call from the auctioneer. He stated a real estate agent called and had a cash buyer lined up at 350k and wanted to know if I had any interest in selling it to them. I said yes. Three hours later the auctioneer called me back saying he was in a bind. The new buyer was in town and was ready to sign a contract for 350 and close on December 14th. Here is where it went south for me. The auctioneer states that since the sellers had not yet received the contract and signed it. That it was not official even though they agreed to sell to me the day of the sale for 280k. My 10k check will not be cashed. But now I’m out of the picture completely. Is there anything I can do in this situation ?

@Michael Colebank thanks for the reply. I’m going to do a drive by of the property tomorrow and if the girlfriend likes the location I’m going to schedule a walk through with the auctioneer. The sellers are accepting pre sale offers so I’m going to attempt a low ball pre sale offer more than likely so I can work in a little extra time to close in the contract. House sales in the eastern panhandle have sky rocketed with people moving this way from dc/Baltimore. Have you bought at a non-foreclosure auction in the state before ?

A house has came up on a local auctioneers page that I am interested in purchasing. There is an open house so I will be attending to check out the condition of the home. It requires a 10 percent down on sale day which I don't have a problem with, however it is non refundable in the event that I am unable to close. My max price on the house will be 30 percent less than what I'm approved for as well as what I feel the home would be worth on the MLS. my question is, would it be worth it to have a title examination done prior to the sale to ensure no unknown liens are on the property ? Aside from gettin a pre approval letter from my lender what other homework should I do before sale day ? Thank you for your time. Also, I'm in West Virginia if anyone has purchased homes from public auction that's not a foreclosure here and knows anything about the process.