Does paying a vacant home's property tax give me title to it?

Question

My mother-in-law owns a rental property in Portland, OR 97236. There is a vacent property directly behind her's. I looked up the county tax records to find that they have not been paid in 3 years, making the total amount owed is $9,800.

I have heard rumors that if you pay off the overdue property taxes the county will give you title. Is that true? If so, does the county give me a Quitclaim deed in exchange for the paid taxes?

We would like to buy the house and really could use some advise.

Thank you so much!

Emmett R. McCarthy · Answer

Check with a local attorney. There is a difference between BUYING a tax lien/tax deed and PAYING taxes on a property. Some jurisdictions have procedures for "adverse possession" where you take possession of the property and pay taxes for a certain number of years, then you can go into court and establish your ownership. Good luck.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Ned Carey  there is a tax sale in Oregon.. but there is only ONE bidder and that is the state.  on the date you are to lose your property the property is sold to the state..  there is no public bidding mechanism.  There are no Tax certs either..

In the entire state I would doubt that more than 100 properties are lost to the state in anyone given years and those would be odds and ends type properties.. left overs of legal descriptions that don't tie etc.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Rick H.  I have never done one.. although my brother is just about to hopefully close out an adverse P in N. CA.. on a property next to his small acreage..

I did though on Friday record my first court order for a specific performance claim were the seller would not perform.. would not answer and went totally dark..

So we took title and dispersed through a court order.. that's a first for me. Also my closer of 26 years at Chicago had never seen one either.

Oregon is very funny with tax defaults .. they really don't like taking peoples properties. I had an old logging property in Polk Co.  ORegon.. that fell through the cracks the county tax collector found my cell number called me and said hey the states about to take your property get down here and pay the tax or we can make a payment plan... No other state I know is like ORegon vis a vi tax sales.

and there is some other very interesting tid bits I would not share on line...

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

@Benjamin Herrmann

Oregon is NOT a tax Lien state.  And No you cannot get title by simply paying the tax's.

Adverse possession is a very long drawn out and complicated process and paying tax's is just one component.

In Oregon there is no tax sale... if the property taxs are not paid in 3 years the property Escheats to the state.. taken into state inventory then sold some time in the future as state excess properties.. these are FAR and few between.. As you know being a Realtor ALL properties in the metro area have pretty good value no matter the condition of the property.... its not like the mid west were there could be thousands of vacant homes rotting away.

the county will also do everything they can to chase down the property owner and work with them not to lose the property.... its unlike any other state in the country in this regard..

@Benjamin Herrmann  hit me off line and I can give you a little more detail if you wish.

Benjamin Herrmann · Answer

I have a lot of research to do! Thank you all for taking the time to share advise. I am new and have never done anything outside of house hacking before. I think it might be wise to start out with a deal less complicated.

@Rick H. I am naturally one who enjoys taking risk and jumping right in to things. Since this would be my first deal I am not in the right position to take a large amount of risk. I will be taking the Jump from Active Duty Military to full time Real Estate Agent in the next month so I think I should stand fast for a bit.

Charlotte Fogarty · Answer

If the property is way behind in taxes, but not foreclosed by the county, I would contact the owner (sometimes they are out of state and will sell it cheap, I bought an Oregon property years ago from someone in Florida that hadn't seen it in 20 years) If they are going to lose it to the County, I would think that they would be willing to sell it for the amount of back taxes plus a little change in order to keep their credit clear? (Do property tax foreclosures go on your credit report?) The one I bought was just next to my parents' house and I just wanted to buy it and looked up the owner and made an offer, it wasn't behind in taxes or anything. Contact them and make an offer.

Charlotte Fogarty · Answer

In Coos County Oregon the properties are foreclosed by the county, then once a year there is a land sale. We just had one last month where I think 25 properties were auctioned off, 3 had no bids, some went for $500. All were good deals that were bought. Two of the properties were assessed below the minimum bid, and they did not sell. One was a few acres by the beach in Bandon, their minimum bid was $350K and didn't sell, assessed for like $100K I think. Anyway, there are County land sales from tax delinquent foreclosures. They happen around this time of year I think in most places. I believe Linn County was the same way.

Ned Carey · Answer

@Jay Hinrichs so there is no tax sale in Oregon.  Are you saying the claims of tax sale gurus, that tax sales are done in all 50 states, is not true?

Rick H. · Answer

@Benjamin Herrmann You ask a little question and have to be very careful about sorting through the responses. Lots of opinions but some can be not only uninformed but downright dangerous.

@David Dachtera, @Wayne Brooks and @?Jay Hinrichs get it.

Paying the taxes on a property that is owned by someone else makes you a volunteer.

To acquire title by adverse possession you must become a trespasser, for starters.

Of course, breaking in to someone else's property id illegal and can get you arrested. If you can stomach the risk of being sued (I had one that went very bad and cost me $400,000. True!) then there are very specific thing you can do but it is not for the amateur

In the end, you'll need to hire an attorney and go to court after filing what's called a Quiet Title Action and prove to the judge that you met all your state, Oregon's, laws in order to have adverse possessed.

Probably 98% of these go bad; very bad. Either the owner gets wind of the possessor, their children or other relative, or a creditor such as a mortgage lender.

As my friends above know, I've done a number of these and have successfully obtained three court orders giving me marketable title, so far.

What's your tolerance for risk?

David Dachtera · Answer

@Benjamin Herrmann,

As the others have suggested, you need to contact a legal professional to get advice on the tax situation in your mother-in-law's area.

Get some info first - don't just flush money down the drain.

David J Dachtera

"Success is not a destination. Failure is not an event. Success is a process, failure is a choice."- DJ Benedict

Does paying a vacant home's property tax give me title to it?

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