All Forum Posts by: Denise Evans

The law changed it to 4 years after the first auction, or the first sale by the tax collecting official. So, if the lien does not sell in Year 1, and you buy Year 1 and Year 2 liens in the Year 2 auction, then the 4 years starts on the date of the Year 2 auction.  

You must still own all of the sold tax liens up until the date you bring your foreclosure lawsuit.

Anyone with redemption rights can ask for a public auction. That seems like a bad thing for investors, but it actually creates a lot of opportunities AND makes it much less like the foreclosure lawsuit will be attached on constitutional grounds and run up huge legal fees while your lawyer fights those issues.

Everybody, the law has changed dramatically about tax lien foreclosures in Alabama. It does into effect on 10/1/24 and applies to any liens for which a final order of foreclosure has not been entered by that date.

I think Jocelyn's question was about tax deeds from the state. That related to older system of tax certificate sales that turned into tax deeds without any judicial action taking place. If someone has paid the price quoted by ADOR (Alabama Department of Revenue) and not yet received their tax deed, there are usually two explanations:

1. The governor does not sign those deeds every day.  So, still awaiting governor's signature. Or

2. Someone with redemption rights can redeem up until the deed is signed and delivered to the buyer.  It might have been signed, but not yet put in the mail for delivery, and the former owner or a lienholder asked for a redemption price. 

You should call ADOR Land Division and ask why the delay.

Jocylyn, you have complicated questions that cannot be answered in a simple forum post.  I can't send you an email until you accept my request to connect.

Denise

Jocelyn, when you say you are "in the process of foreclosing" do you mean you have filed a judicial foreclosure lawsuit to foreclose tax liens you own?  Or, do you mean you are waiting for your tax certificate to turn into a tax deed? It makes a huge difference to my answer.

R/S on the tax assessor's records usually means Right of Survivorship.  As, title is held in husband and wife's name with right of survivorship, but only the husband's name is on the tax assessor's record. The R/S indicates another person's name is also on the title.

Three years of post-deed adverse possession results in the statute of limitations running against the original owner or heirs. They are no longer able to claim the tax sale was void.  They can certainly file a lawsuit and claim it was void, but you would answer that lawsuit with an affirmative defense of the short statute of limitations.

Things might be different in different states. This is Alabama, which I think might be the case in most other states. The property manager is the agent of the owner/investor.  Everything the agent owns or generates belongs to the property owner., who is the principal.  That is general agency law 101.  Upon request, they must all be turned over. Sometimes a property management contract will say the manager does NOT have to turn over certain things. If the owner/investor signed such a contract, they are stuck with the language in the contract and cannot rely on general principles of agency law.

No problems.  If your parents already quieted title or obtained quitclaim deeds from former owners, you can donate and the donee can get title insurance.  If not, you can still donate but the donee will not get title insurance. Generally a church in the neighborhood is a willing donee because they can use sweat equity and donated materials to make the property habitable again and either sell it or rent at below-market rents to someone in the church who needs that assistance.

You can donate them. If you donate them to a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, you can get a tax deduction equal to the current fair market value of property, no matter what your parents paid and no matter whether title has been quieted or not.  

The tax deduction is limited to 30% of your adjusted gross income. For example, if you wanted to take a charitable deduction for $100,000, but your adjusted gross income was only $90,000, then the maximum deduction for that year would be $30,000.  The remaining $70,000 would be  carried over to the next year, when you take another look at AGI to see how much deduction you can take. You can continue to roll over for up to 5 years.

If you cannot use the charitable deduction, you can sometimes sell the properties to a high income individual who CAN use them.  If someboy were in the 37% tax bracket, they would owe $37,000 on $100,000 of AGI.  They would gladly pay you $10,000 or $15,000 to save the $37,000. They have to hold the deeds for at least one year, though, before donating. Your holding period is added together with your parents' holding period, so I'm sure you have already met the 1 year requirement.

To take the deduction, it does require an appraisal and a tax form signed by the appraiser.

I'm in Tuscaloosa, also. Contact me and I can walk you through some other details and maybe look at some other options.

I'm not endorsing Evernest in particular, because I don't do that. However, I do consulting work for a great many property management firms across the state. It is hard and it is complicated. It is not a 9-5 job, or even a 7am to 6pm job. Lunches are often taken late in the day or not at all, because most prospect calls come during lunch.

It is a balancing act between what is legally required under a lease and what is needed to keep a good tenant who has a temporary problem. Not only do you have to devote time to property management, you have to devote time to education in ever-changing laws and financial metrics. You have to know enough to stay competitive in amenities and software tools. You often have to make split-second decisions without complete information. 

EVERYBODY has problems keeping and retaining employees, so that is another challenge, which usually requires greater investment and self-education in technology.  

All landlord and tenant issues have to be evaluated and balanced among those that are important but non-urgent, important and urgent, and urgent but not all that important.  

As a landlord, you are  part of community that shares your property manager's time and resources with other landlords, without being privy to the decision making regarding allocation of scarce resources. Sharing doesn't always turn out the way you want it, but it sure beats doing everything all by yourself. Especially when your own time and attention is diluted by sharing with family, friends, community, finding additional investments, perhaps a "day job," etc.

I find that communicating unhappiness or frustration with the person in a position to address the situation is usually the best course. That should be followed by an agreed plan of action with deadlines and follow-up.  That should all be in writing. In my experience, most problems are solved after that.