IRS Tax Lien Question

[David Weis]

I'm looking at purchasing a property here in Tampa, Florida. The owner has 16 properties. An IRS lien was filed in 2011 for $176K. But it was not attached to any property. It was just a general lien against the owner in general. The house would not sell on the open market for more than $70K. We are offering $50K.

I'm assuming if we buy the house, all the money will go to the IRS. Does that sound correct? Would the IRS stop the sale and demand $176K be paid for the house?

[Wayne Brooks]

An IRS lien recorded in the county records acts a lien on any property the debtor owns.  The title co., or someone, will have to fill out the appropriate IRS form, submit it, and work out an amount the IRS will accept to release the lien from This one property.  This happens frequently in short sales, where the IRS gets nothing, but still releases the lien from the one property.  You won't possibly be able to get title insurance without this, and you certainly should not buy it otherwise.