Purchasing a house before it is up for a Tax auction

[Mal K.]

I’m looking at the house that has been foreclosed by the city due to delinquent unpaid taxes. The owner inherited the house from his parents and stopped paying taxes three years ago. Tax auction is coming up and I’m interested biding on the house. I had my real estate attorney do a title searching and check if there are any judgments or lien against the owner of the house. The owner (I’m in contact with) would consider selling the house to me directly. When I asked at the city treasury dept if I can pay off delinquent taxes (3 weeks before auction date) I was told it is too late and the house will be auctioned  off. 1. Is there anything that I can do to purchase the house before it is auctioned off? The owner would sell it directly to me.                                       2. The seller has judgements against him, but they were awarded before he inherited the house. My attorney said there are no liens on the house. If I purchase the house can these agencies come after me a new owner since there were judgments filled against the prior owner. As always thank you for your advice. Mal

[Christopher Phillips]

@Mal K.

NY State is a judicial state. The house has already been foreclosed on. Once the judgement is issued title is transferred to the municipality for sale. For tax foreclosures, the owner has a very small window to redeem the property after the judgement is issued (30 days after the foreclosure notice is mailed). Since the owner blew passed that date already, you can no longer buy it from the owner directly. Nor can you buy it from the municipality before the auction, they want an arms length transaction at auction to get the maximum sales price for the property.

The only way the owner could do something at this point is petition the court to reopen the judgement case. Considering the owner hasn't paid taxes in several years, he probably won't bother with a legal battle.