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Counter Offer on Tax Sale Properties (Alabama & elsewhere)
One of my coworkers 96 year old grandfather had her go online and apply for a tax delinquent property in his neighborhood (North Birmingham). It has been empty for years. Story is the owners got old moved in with their kids and their kids had their own home and didn't want to be bothered with the house. It's a very large house too. 4 bedroom, 2 bath, den, just a big house.
Taxes on this home have not been paid since 2007. The quote she received back via email was over $14,000! She printed out the letter and gave it to her grandfather. He submitted a hand written counter offer via postal mail.
They (Shelley Tice) emailed my coworker back.
They accepted his counter offer of.....................$3000!!!! That's less than 22% of the taxes owed!!!! WE BOTH WERE JUST ABSOLUTELY FLOORED!!!!! He bought it! Almost 80% off!!!
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Now y'all know with this information I'm about to step my game up!!! I'm gonna play a small hand and see if I can get a counter offer accepted for the 2 empty lots next to my personal home. The taxes on them have not been paid since 2009. As of today the county estimate for the back taxes is $1166.73 for one & $823.54 for the other. I think $200 & $150 respectively should work. I just submitted my apps today so I'm going to find out soon enough.
>>>>>Questions for my seasoned investors................
Have you ever submitted a counter offer on an over-the-counter tax sale property?
How many years delinquent was it? What was the condition of the property?
Was your offer accepted or rejected?
Did you submit your counter offer via email or postal mail?
And how did you format your letter!?!?!? I want to be as professional & serious as possible, lol!
@Denise Evans, is there a formula or some guideline Alabama uses for accepting counter offers? Does it have to be delinquent several years? Like more than 2? I just call Shelley Tice and asked if I can submit a counter offer via email and she said yes because if it is not eligible she can just email me right back. I should have asked what makes a property "eligible".
@Anastasia Jordan, the property must be on the state inventory for at least five years. There is no formula.
@Anastasia Jordan, ADOR does like to hear about it if you are a neighbor or live nearby and plan to rehab the property. It helps you have more credibility than people who might just be tire kickers.
Originally posted by @Denise Evans:
@Anastasia Jordan, the property must be on the state inventory for at least five years. There is no formula.
LOL! Thanks Denise. Miss Tice just quickly shot me down when I submitted one for a quote I got last week that went into tax sale last year, lol!
Now that I have this information I can plan out a better hustle.......
Originally posted by @Denise Evans:
@Anastasia Jordan, ADOR does like to hear about it if you are a neighbor or live nearby and plan to rehab the property. It helps you have more credibility than people who might just be tire kickers.
I just submitted another app for the fire damaged house to my left. It's meets the 5 year criteria. There was a hobo-catlady squatting there but she's gone & the cats are now squatting with me. It is totally disgusting inside. It is over $5k in taxes. To even counter with an offer of $2 is too much for the amount of filth I would need to clean out. I would like to just cut off the fire damaged part and connect the rest to my home.
Offer $500. Take lots of photos and send them with your counter-offer.
UPDATE: got my bando for $200.
So I'm I getting this right property has to be sold to state for more than 5 yrs
I would like to counter a price notice that I just received. Did you use a certain format or just propose lower price? I went to the property and took pictures. The quote was $942, I would like to counter with $400. The State has had possession for 6 years. I am accepting any advice. Thank you.
Also, does the 20 days start over when you submit a counter offer?
Originally posted by @Jay Wilson:
4 months now.
@Demetria
@Demetria Cass did you ever get the format or template for submitting the counter offer?
Originally posted by @Shatwanna Dean:
@Demetria
@Demetria Cass did you ever get the format or template for submitting the counter offer?
No I have not. I just composed a response and sent it. I will let you know if the State accepts it.
Do you know if the 5 years has to be consecutive? If a property was sold at auction 2012, then again in 2016, and the tax cert is still held by the state, would that be eligible for a counter offer?
@Hannah Harris, dating from most recent tax auction
@Denise Evans that was my assumption. thank you for the clarification!
THIS IS AWESOME INFORMATION! If possible @Anastasia Jordan can I get a copy of one of your letters?
Also since it takes so long for a response (most cases) did you have to resubmit your application?
Really just CHANGED MY GAME!
Y'all they are so behind on processing BPOs because so many applications have flooded the system + you have idiots who put in a BPO and don't even buy them, wasting the tax offices time. Now you may not even get a response till next year.
Good day everyone, would anybody be interested in a tax deed I purchase in Lipscomb. I bought the deed under the impression the house was included on the parcel but come to find out, the house under another parcel number. I'll make somebody a good deal on it, so let me know if you interested.
Originally posted by @Lamario Hopson:
Good day everyone, would anybody be interested in a tax deed I purchase in Lipscomb. I bought the deed under the impression the house was included on the parcel but come to find out, the house under another parcel number. I'll make somebody a good deal on it, so let me know if you interested.
Was the house a mobile home? Could you provide the county / parcel number?
Originally posted by @Demetria Cass:
Originally posted by @Shatwanna Dean:
@Demetria
@Demetria Cass did you ever get the format or template for submitting the counter offer?
No I have not. I just composed a response and sent it. I will let you know if the State accepts it.
@ Demetria did the State accept your offer?
I am retiring from the military and am planning to move to Calhoun County in Alabama next year and have started really looking at the list of delinquent properties and just made requests on 10 different vacant plots, ranging from 2009 to 2015 tax sales (to the state). My plan is weird but I really enjoy hunting (only able to enjoy about 4 seasons in the last 20 years) and think that I can use them for hunting while I work to clear the title. For most parcels this means removing trash, bush-hogging, tilling and planting a food plot to attract wildlife, posting no-trespassing signs, etc. I have a tractor and have successfully fed wildlife before doing this.
However, there is not a lot of margin to make a profit as I see bare land selling actively in MLS listings for $2-4k more than what it will cost me to buy the tax sale and do a quiet title search (likely $3k apiece). Obviously, from this thread, I should be offering to pay the state 10-20% of what they ask me, reasoning that no one else will buy them and that I have a reasonable plan to get them actively producing taxes again. Do you have any other recommendations for me?
I have ordered Denise Evans book.
I think I should also work to lower the taxes on any properties I obtain, not by rezoning but rather attempting to adjust the appraisal value. For instance, two parcels have high power lines running through the middle which is great for hunting but spectacularly poor for development.
Is quiet title faster if I have adjoining parcels that were under the same name previously?