If a tax lien company has a tax certificate on some property how do we buy it?
Submitted by: Renee B
I asked this in real estate also...but we are interested in buying some property in Oklahoma, but couldn't locate the owner...after some digging we found that they owe 4 years of back taxes on the place. If we want to purchase it do we have to buy the certificate from the tax lien company or speak with the owner? Any help would be great!! Thanks!
The thing that is making this so difficult is that I cannot track down the owner, all the numbers I have found so far are disconnected...I'm really not sure what else to do.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 2:13 am
If taxes are unpaid for a period of time, it will be auctioned off for back taxes. The tax collector can tell you when that will happen. Be there on the day and be prepared to pay cash.
If you can locate the owner, work whatever deal you can but make sure that it’s enough to clear the taxes. The closing agent will pay off the lien(s) from the proceeds from the sale. The seller gets whatever is left and you get a clear title.
November 6th, 2008 at 5:44 am
If you are serious about buying the property, contact the owner. The tax lien holder will become the owner, in due time, only if the original owner continues to fail to pay his taxes. Most properties are NOT sold for taxes, because that would be stupid for the owner to let his property go for a fraction of its value in most circumstances.
November 8th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Tax liens don’t convey ownership. So if you want to own that property, you need to buy it from the owner plus pay off the liens. If you’re looking to foreclosure on it using tax liens, that’s tough if someone already owns the tax liens. You’d have to convince that person to transfer the liens to you then try to redeem the property. Please read the book below to get some more information.
November 10th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
There is a difference between federal tax liens and state tax liens. If you are talking about state tax liens, then yes, the local tax assessor can tell you exactly what you need to do to buy the property. You can view an article that I wrote on this topic here:.
You MUST check to see if the IRS also has a filed or unfiled federal tax lien. Many of my clients purchase properties via state tax lien sales only to find that the property is also subject to a filed or unfiled federal tax lien. The rules on removing federal tax liens just changed a couple of weeks ago. You can view an article that I wrote on this topic here:.
A tax attorney in Oklahoma should easily be able to address your questions better (and many would probably do so for free — assuming that they work for medium or smaller firms). If the property is desirable, you may want to hire an attorney (many states permit courthouse door sales, a process that puts locals in a position to snap up a property before an absentee or less-knowledgeable buyer knows what happened).
I hope that helps.
Kreig Mitchell