All Forum Posts by: Russell R Massey

Jay - do you mean the money laundering angle or buying property and hoping to get the overage angle?

To be clear. The property is not worth more than maybe $5k and really nothing because unbuildable. 

Kevin - I was just thinking a bit along those lines. That sounds like a good way to launder money. Find anyone really to sign a quit claim or make them up, have it notarized (the notary's name is not on the GA notary list by the way), and then buy a property for $90k, you take a $8k hit on the fees, then you get back the overage paid to you by the city. 
Washed clean.   

It is 45'x20 total lot size and cannot be built on for setbacks, minimum house size, and more. So no affordable housing can be built there. 

Atlanta.
Referencing a small corner property, 45'x20', zoned Residential. Planning says nothing can be built there (well it could but it is VERY VERY VERY unlikely it would be approved per zoning). Long established residential neighborhood and used to be a corner store. Completely demolished and no slab left for 40+ years. Vacant for 40+ years.
In other words, anyone who buys it is buying the right to pay taxes on an unsellable lot forever. 
I had looked for the relatives of the deceased owner before with no success. 

It went up for tax sale Nov. 2023.

Somehow, a quitclaim was made from the sole heir just 5 days before  the tax sale - and recorded in the deed book the day after the tax sale.  

The tax debt was about $7k on the property. The property tax lien sale amount was $80,000 on the courthouse steps!!! So, they are close to $90k in. I own the surrounding lot and was the second bidder. Based on similar lots, it should have gone anywhere from not purchased to 3-9k. 

Can anyone clue me in to what the heck is goin on here? 
I will be glad to send you a $50 Amazon gift card for a really plausible theory. 

Prior Theories:
It could be turned commercial (no)
A residence could be built there (no)
They bought it to sell to me at a profit because I am the only one who cares about this. (Plausible for a $5k win. Not plausible for $80K+back taxes which gets up to $90k. If I would have paid more, I would have bid more)
They made a mistake and thought it was a different property (there are several with the same roadname but not the same Parcel - and this was professional who was bidding on several properties)

Can anyone clue me in to what the heck is goin on here?

ATLANTA GEORGIA
I need a recommendation for someone to give legal advice on a specialized topic - Do you recommend anyone? 

A property was vacant for 40+ years, tax lien sale on courthouse steps happened last december and someone won that. 
I have a few old Fieri Facias on the property and need to know my rights and options. 

I was also not notified of the tax lien sale. 

Thank you for the reply. What really took so long? 
If you had a no rise, then I don't think you even have to get FEMA to review it. Was that true for you?

I know that you need the survey, you need to design what is going in the flooday, You need to design how you are offsetting what are doing to get a zero rise certificate, you need to get the FEMA floodway model and then have someone do the software run and make sure that you have zero rise and mybe tell you that you need to change more, but that seems to be mostly internal design and engineering? Is that true?

What, exactly took at the time? 

Thank you for your insight!

I am looking at a constructing a single family that would extend into the floodway (not Floodzone) of a studied stream. This is in Georgia. Not near a river or lake or ocean. 

I really just want to add 2 piers tat would be the size of medium size tree trunks and elevate that section over. 

Assuming that I left the whole area open like a beach house, the impact is VERY minimal, but has to be checked. 
Does anyone have any experience with the cost ballpark and requirement to do this with a single residential (not multifamily complex)? 

Time delay is not an issue. Is there any quicker easier path when the impact is less minimal than 3 large trees growing in the area? 

Thank you for the insight. I have read many posts, but many are old and may not be looking at a single building vs complex. 

No foundation/building there in 40 yrs. 
I suppose that I could build up. 
Cannot be joined with adjacent.
No demand for paid parking in the area. 

Hello! Thank you for your insight!   

I am looking at a corner lot. It is zoned R-4 and had one of those corner stores on it 50 years ago. It has been vacant for 40 yrs. 
It is in the City of Atlanta Proper in a well established R-4 Neighborhood.  It is a total of 1,048 SF lot. It is 23'x46'.
With R-4 required setbacks for new construction, I do not see how anything can be built. 

So, what can I build there?
Do you know of any instances where someone built something in a similar circumstance?

What should I expect to pay for a local attorney to advise on this?