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Updated about 4 years ago, 11/30/2020
Wait Time on Request From State
I requested quotes on several tax properties over a week ago with the State of Alabama. I haven't received an email or correspondence yet. What is the typical turn around time?
Thanks for any information!
Hi. It really depends on who may have inquired about those properties before you as it goes in order of request status. I've requested quotes before, and it took a few months before I heard anything back. Again, it just depends.
@Candice Hill, they are very backlogged right now. The average volume of price requests used to be 1,200 to 1,500 a month. They could handle that. There might be a person or two in line ahead of you, with each person adding approximately 30 days to the delay. Now, the wholesalers are requesting quotes on hundreds of properties at a time. Then the next day, they request quotes on the same ones. Then they do it again for a 3rd day. That puts them #1, #2 and #3 in line. That gives them a total of around 90 days to try to flip their price quote to somebody else to buy the property. If they can't do that, they just let the quotes expire without buying.
90 days is just one wholesaler. There are a bunch of them. You might be #54 in line for a price quote, which means it will be 4.5 years before you get one. Today, their request volume is averaging 23,000 requests per month. They don't have a prayer of getting to all of those. They aren't selling any more properties than before, so they can't justify the budget expense of hiring more people. They are working on a solution of some type. We just don't know yet what it is. Be patient. Sorry.
What do you mean by quotes on tax properties
Dollar amounts on ADOR website are the amount due on the property at the time of the auction. If the sale was in 2017 for $500, then probably $450 of that was taxes and the rest was advertising and interest. If you want to buy it today, ADOR would have to add up the original $500 sale price plus 12% per year interest, plus the 2018 taxes of maybe $450 plus 12% per year interest, and so on until the present. Usually they also add the current year's anticipated taxes, even though won't be due until October 1. So, all of that has to be calculated. When you go online and request to buy a property, they send you a quote for the purchase price. You then have 20 days to either pay them and get it, or do nothing and your right to buy for that time expires. You can request another price quote on the same property, but you are limited to 3 quotes for the same property. If you don't buy it one of those times, you are not allowed to ask again for the same property.
Thank you so much for the info ! What are your thoughts on going to purchase the list from the county ? The properties that didn’t sell at the auction ? Would it be the same ?
No, don't buy county list. Usually very out of date. Sign up for www.ParcelFair.com ($39 per month, no minimum subscription requirement) for updated weekly information about ADOR inventory, PLUS lots of really valuable tools including ability to request price quotes directly from parcelfair, keep tracking of properties on which you are expecting quotes, keep private notes and photos on properties, etc. An incredible tool at a really cheap price.
I received a quote this year 18 months after I sent in the request. I had given up on it.
ADOR is working on a solution for the problem with the long delays. they can't ask for a budget increase and hire more people, because they aren't selling more properties than before. Just a WHOLE LOT OF wholesalers requesting quotes on hundreds of properties, then requesting quotes on the same properties a couple of days later, and then doing it again. There used to be no limit on how many days they could do that. Now, at least, it's maxed out at 3 quotes for the same property and the same person. But, they get around that by having a friend request quotes on 3 different days. If two people request 3 quotes each on the same property, and if each quote eats up 20 days that someone has to decide to buy or not, that means the person (and their partner) can tie up a property for as long as 4 months while they hope to flip their price quote to someone who wants to buy the certificate or deed. So, aside from the sheer volume, THAT adds to delays, also. I suggested they charge a fee for each price quote. Even a small one like $10 gets too expensive for the wholesalers to engage in the kind of volume they are doing. But, probably it should be closer to $50. if you buy the property, the $50 is used as a credit against purchase price. if you don't, then that money is gone. It was just my suggestion. I don't know what they are going to do.
Originally posted by @Denise Evans:
@Candice Hill, they are very backlogged right now. The average volume of price requests used to be 1,200 to 1,500 a month. They could handle that. There might be a person or two in line ahead of you, with each person adding approximately 30 days to the delay. Now, the wholesalers are requesting quotes on hundreds of properties at a time. Then the next day, they request quotes on the same ones. Then they do it again for a 3rd day. That puts them #1, #2 and #3 in line. That gives them a total of around 90 days to try to flip their price quote to somebody else to buy the property. If they can't do that, they just let the quotes expire without buying.
90 days is just one wholesaler. There are a bunch of them. You might be #54 in line for a price quote, which means it will be 4.5 years before you get one. Today, their request volume is averaging 23,000 requests per month. They don't have a prayer of getting to all of those. They aren't selling any more properties than before, so they can't justify the budget expense of hiring more people. They are working on a solution of some type. We just don't know yet what it is. Be patient. Sorry.
Denise (or anyone else familiar with Alabama)
Hypothetically speaking - If a property has been delinquent for ten plus years, is it safe to assume that there is a greater likelihood I would be first in line in terms of potential bidder? If its been delinquent, and the state has owned it for ten plus years, I imagine there may not be a whole lot of action on it in terms of other bidders, which in turn...makes a potential turnaround time for a quote much shorter.
Or do all requests just get lumped into one big bucket and they will "get to it when they get to it"?
I'd guess nobody else would be interested. Requests are handled on a first come first served basis. Those ladies work REALLY hard admist a nonstop hailstorm of price requests.