Judicial tax Sale in PA

[Chris Smith]

This upcoming Judicial sale is free and clear;
The properties exposed to sale will be sold FREE AND CLEAR of all tax
and municipal claims, mortgages, liens, charges and estates of
whatsoever kind, except ground rents separately taxed pursuant to §610
of the Real Estate Tax Sale Law. The properties being offered for sale
have been previously advertised at the time of the Tax Claim Bureau’s
Upset Sale, which Upset Sale is referenced in the Petition for the
Judicial Sale for each property.

I am interested in a few lots and was wondering if anyone had any tidbits of information about purchasing them? I have mapped the lots, I have ran deeds, I have looked up addresses, owners the type of dwellings. A buddy of mine says to don't worry about any liens if it made it this far into the tax sale. Do I still want to go ahead an run a title search even for a free and clear sale? Also the one MFR I am looking to bid on the currently (Husband) and the secondary owner (Wife) are both deceased. What if any problems can or will arise because of that, Thank you for any an all information.

Chris

[Kate Daye Ruane]

Hi Chris! Twice in the last year I have had a tax-sale purchase come back with a cloudy title. Both times it was caught during the title search when the buyer renovated the property and went to resell. Both times it was able to be corrected with a quit claim. One was immediate (caused a 3 week delay), the other took over a year (so original buyer was lost). The owner had to pay an attorney approx. $2000 to handle, which included sending certified letters to all family members in another state, etc etc, and waiting the allotted time. I am not an attorney so I would wait for one of them to hop on here and answer, but that has been my experience. All other tax sale purchases that I have dealt with have had an easy transfer and no known issues. They are a great avenue to capture real estate, but my short answer would be that it doesn't hurt to do search before or at LEAST before resale.