Buy or no? A property bought at tax sale with clouded title.

[Josh Skogen]

Hello Biggerpockets community!

My wife and I live in northwest Indiana. We are working towards the purchase of our first investment property. We are currently doing our due diligence on the property. Our strategy is the BRRR method.

So, here's our situation. The seller bought the property at a tax sale. The one year period of redemption has passed, and he has gone through the process to obtain the tax deed. Now, I had a title search run, and a number of things show up. The seller was upfront with me prior to the search and told me that I would find some items on there. 

Here is what was found:

• 3859.13 in delinquent property taxes and solid waste/storm water/etc. assessments
• 1176.53 total in city utility liens
• 910.53 in a state tax warrant filed in 2014 against the possible previous owner (Talking to the rep at the title agency, the person the warrant is against and the previous owner of the property share the same name, but they may or may not be the same person. This is also the case with the judgments listed below.)
• 11,735.07 in a judgment from 2007
• 660.93 in a judgment from 2014

The seller is not interested in quieting the title. I guess he buys a lot of properties in tax sales and uses a number of exit strategies, and handing over quitclaim deeds to buyers is one of them. 

Should I run? Too much risk?

Here are my concerns:

1. I will not have title insurance on this property. I understand Chicago Title, which ran the search, is reputable, so are their findings reliable? Am I pretty safe that no other liens will come up against the property.
2. Will I be on the hook for all these liens and judgments? Can I negotiate down any of those? I can pay the city and county liens, and it should still be a decent deal. (Of course, I don't want to have to pay the full amount if I don't have to.) The 11,735.07 judgment is pretty scary, though. I don't know if this detail makes a difference or not, but all the judgment and lien holders were notified of the court date for the issuance of the tax deed to the seller, but none of the parties of interest showed.
3. I cannot refinance if the title is clouded. What's the best approach to quiet the title? How long can it take?

I have a ton of questions, here, but I'm just trying to get a better understanding of the situation, so even if you can help me in one point, I would appreciate it.

I am working with an attorney on this transaction, so I will finally run everything through him, but I'm also looking for the wisdom of the fine people here!

Thanks much!

[Wayne Brooks]

The only way you will know for sure.....sit down with a local RE attorney familiar with the tax lien/foreclosure process.  They will know, perhaps after having to review the tax authority file/process, which liens will survive.  In most states, the gov't/utility liens will survive, and the private judgments will be wiped.  He can also explain the cost and timeline of a quiet title action.  Then, you can decide.