All Forum Posts by: Ryan Keith

The main purpose is to find out asap if a property is investable before I purchase it. I've bought some tax properties (i have tax deeds) that I later found out had liens on them that my ciurrent lawyer is telling me I will need to pay off before I can sell the properties. 

I'm trying to avoid that in the future and if it means spending a few hundred dollars to save me several thousand dollars in potential loss later then I should do that. 

So it sounds like the online service may be good enough for my needs. 

Anyone ever use one of the many online title search companies? Experiences?

I have a local company I use now and they can be pretty slow. Couple weeks sometimes. Some of the online companies claim a 48hr turnaround. 

I know in the distant past that someone would physically go to the courthouse to search records. Is that still the case? If so how can an online company do that? Or are they just relying on online records only?

Most of the online companies that I found claim to insure their searches. 

Just curious. Thanks!

Thank you for the reply. I thought that may be the case with the medicaid lien although I thought that medicaid was state not federal. I have spoken to the local medicaid office about the lien. The lien was against an elderly lady who owned the property and passed away. Medicaid is willing to settle the lien at a reduced rate which is good because the lien is more than the property is worth. 

Any idea on the other property with the bank lien? It's just the original mortgage holder for the land from 2006.  They're just a typical national bank chain. 

I purchased several tax liens in Alabama that are past the 3 year right of redemption period now. They're just vacant land, no residences. I've exchanged the "tax certificates" with the county for "tax deeds".

One property has a bank lien against it and another one has a Medicaid lien against it. Neither have come forward to redeem during the past 3 years.

I would like to sell the properties so I need to clear these liens.

Will Quiet Title Action do that? Assuming they don't show up to court or contest it which I don't suspect they will since they've had the opportunity over the past 4 years to do so.

Thanks for any help!

Also, if it's allowed in these forums, if someone knows an attorney near Birmingham that does these please let me know.

Thanks for the replies! It looks like a visit to an attorney is certainly in order which I kind of expected but I thought I would ask other opinions anyway.

I live near the house and have been stopping and checking on the place for the past year or so. The power has been turned off for at least a year and the yard is grown over. I also talked to the neighbors on either side who both told me that nobody had lived there for a long time.

I didn't actually know if anything was in the house because all of the windows have sheets or towels over the inside of them.

It's very obvious that nobody is currently "living" in the place or hasn't lived in the place in some time. They just left a lot of their stuff in the place.

Based on the fact that it's clear that nobody is actually in the place and hasn't for a while, I wasn't sure if a landlord/tenant relationship exists with me. It looks more like an abandoned property situation but I'm no lawyer obviously.

To expand on my original post a little - I bought the place from the state who had actually recovered it due to back taxes from a nationwide real estate investment company who had bought it through a tax auction from the person who's stuff is still in the house. So, technically they haven't really owned the place in about 7 or so years. It just looks like the real estate investment company never bothered to evict them and they finally moved out a couple of years ago. They just haven't returned to get the rest of their stuff. I'm not sure that they even know that they lost the place years ago. Now they're just treating it as a storage building apparently.

Thanks again!

Hello from Alabama. I'm just curious if anyone else has ever run into a situation where you bought a tax lien property but it was full of the previous owners possessions, although in this case the house has been vacant for a whiler.

I purchased a home via a state tax auction. The home was sold by the state past the 3 year right of redemption so I have a real deed (not just a tax deed) to the property. Nobody has lived in the home for at least the past two years (I live nearby and have been watching the place) but a lot of their belongings are still in the house.

I went into the house right after purchasing it and it is disgusting and currently unlivable. There is dog poo at least an inch thick from one to the other end of the house. A neighbor told me that the previous owner left a dog pinned in the house for about six months to keep anyone from breaking in and that they only fed the dog through a broken window and let it just drink from the toilet. A little irony here is that I've tracked down the previous owner and she works at a local vetinary clinic.

Anyway, my question is what can I legally do with the previous owners stuff that's in the house now? There's some furniture which will have to be taken to a dump due to the dog, a large piano and rooms full of just "stuff" (pictures, dishes, clothes, toys, etc).

When I first bought the place, I removed a storm window to get in the place and left the front door unlocked. I went by a week later and the window was put back on the front door locked again. I assume that the lady doesn't know that she's lost the place yet.

Can I just stick a note on the door stating to stay out of the place and to contact me within 30 days to get the stuff or it will be discarded or do I HAVE to contact her to come get the stuff? Or have I just become a landlord and now I have to evict her even though nobody actually lives there?

Any help is greatly appreciated!