All Forum Posts by: Karen D. Schiano

Thanks for all the replies and willingness to offer help.  I really appreciate it.  Update, I have successfully foreclosed pro se on two parcels owned by the same person jointly with one deceased with right of survivorship deed.  He didn't value the property and didn't want to pay the taxes and penalties and interest accrued.  Hallelujah! 

I have another foreclosure in progress on the property  of a deceased person  with three heirs and verification as to who inherited the property.  The inheriting heir wants to give me the property as he also doesn't want to pay the taxes and "will never go there"  but I couldn't even offer a small purchase in lieu of court  because they never got the deed transferred andit was just not worth it to him to file the death certificate and do what's needed by the county to transfer the deed to sell.  I had a third owner (tax lien investor but had purchased the parcel years ago) with Warranty Deed recorded just transfer the deed and  give me the property because he didn't want to deal with sending certified checks to the county for taxes every year. 

So much of the mystery of the process is gone and I'm a lot more confident about the process.

While I do have a plan to sell to artists to network into my venture in progress, an art retreat, with a non profit artists in residence program that will send artists to create in remote locations throughout the painted desert, with spectacular land features,  some of the properties I've bought tax liens on  are nearby or adjacent to the ranch's main retreat and three outposts so I will simply annex them.  I'm not so much looking for profit as to create a vision and that vision will be supported also by recreational camping, art workshops and retreats as well as non profit donations for the AIR program.

Many tax lien investors here do their own foreclosures which will court and all fees comes out to less than $300. per parcel.  Some counties have self help packets for this but they don't answer all questions so that's why I sought advice.

Thanks for those additional replies.  Yes, I since found out the owner can "sell" for $5. or transfer for no fee the property, from the  assistants at the state law library, in lieu of foreclosure.  That's their motivation to avoid a foreclosure on their credit rating in my cases.  There are alot of Quit Claim deeds executed in Navajo County  of virtually no value raw remote off grid land that nobody is contesting and in the one case, sibling heirs have legally signed over rights.  It's of no value to anyone except an artist that is collecting painted desert lands.

  I've got to find out if the remaining heir has a deed locked away somewhere in the Estate lawyer's office they used and I think Will Sifert is right that the property  might first have to get it legally transferred to the heir via deed but then again  the grantor in a Quit Claim Deed may not even be owner of the property, but in this case, including having previously talked to the Estate attorney, I know he if the only remaining heir that wanted it but now wants to surrender it as he doesn't want to pay the taxes and will never use it.  I'm communicating with him so waiting to see if there is a deed somewhere that just wasn't recorded to expedite the transfer, quitclaim to me.  If not, I'm wondering if just going through the Foreclosure process will help in getting a Judgment Deed in a case like this or if I will still have to somehow get the property transferred to the heir myself before the court will transfer it to me????

I use Huntwise Pro to find all boundaries (spent $700. on one survey only for the surveyor to tell me my stakes were right on line with his tools within 6 ")  and study county maps and easements, which ranchers and the few part time cabin owners  out there just make their own easement/roads  and everybody, the few people around, like myself with an illegal easement on one of the 40 acre properties I bought apart from a tax lien  accept to be accommodating to neighbors in rough territory where you cannot traverse the legal easements on the perimeters so therefore, would have no access to your property.   Thanks again, any one with experience on whether just going through Foreclosure would facilitate a transfer or not and eliminate the need for me to establish the heir's ownership as he will not come forth to contest as he doesn't want the property?

Thanks for your replies, very helpful.  I can get the paperwork from the heir showing that his siblings who were co-heirs to the property signed over property rights legally through the Estate attorney.  Yes, the question remains whether a QC deed wipes of the need for the foreclosure action in Arizona as it is the same state statutes for each county.  And the question remains whether the heir has or has to get the property legally transferred to him before he can do a quit claim deed but as was stated a quit claim deed does not guarantee ownership or 100% ownership but through talking with several relatives and siblings who signed over rights and with the deceased on record as owner on deed (available online in recorder's office) I'm certain he has 100% interest and perhaps a deed that hasn't been recorded yet.  I'm going to call the self help law library of another county as Navajo County doesn't have that and see what they can tell me as state laws governing the tax lien foreclosures are the same in each county.  Again, thanks for your replies!

The other wanting to surrender the property is the owner of record so that's simpler if anyone knows if he can just sign a quit claim deed over to me in lieu of me filing a foreclosure action.

I might add that the person wanting to surrender the property to me is the heir of the deceased owner of record that I tracked down.  The owner died several years ago but the heir never notified Navajo County nor filed a deed.  His two siblings legally signed over the property to him at that time.  So under these circumstances I'm also not sure that he could just do a quit claim deed without first transferring the deed into his name or whether he could just sign a quit claim deed and possibly have to include the documents that show he is the heir and siblings signed over rights to the property?  I have spoken to a relative and one of the siblings who confirmed all this to me.

I have sent Intents to Foreclose on several properties in Arizona.  Two owners simply want to give the land to me because it is remote off grid raw land worth little (but alot to my Christian art retreat expansion for the aesthetic quality of the land) that they don't want to pay off the tax liens on.  Can they simply sign (and notarize) a quit claim deed or do I have to go through the foreclosure process and file with the court?  I'm new to this so I don't know if this is acceptable to Navajo County and they don't do much self help.  I don't know what happens with the tax lien then, I don't know if the county has additional fees they will want paid off or it simply gets dismissed by the transfer of ownership and of course, me paying taxes forward.  Thanks for your help.

@Ned Carey  Thanks. 

    Thanks. I studied the statutes and determined what to do and what Ned Carey said about the return envelopes being proof is the case also here to.   It is just required to send the Intent to the owner's address of record with the recorder, assessor, and on tax roll records and then after that step is done, do a title search (seems backwards but the self help packets from the courts - below - are very clear on the order of the "steps") and determine who else you may need to send intents to.

   In this part of Arizona, since there is so much vacant "useless" land that people just let go, not realizing what they got - remote, off grid land, with no water and in many cases no roads to them -  when they purchased it for pennies, it is common for "hobby" investors to foreclose on their own, so much so that many counties have self help packets to foreclose the properties which is what I am interpreting.  Yes, I have done title searches.  Many counties in Arizona have online systems they advise to use in the self help packets.  

My intent is not to make a profit as most investors but to add lands to a non-profit I am forming for Christian artists to paint and create works on in an artist in residence program.  Also to preserve the vast, remote, and unpopulated  lands of the painted desert and petrified forest like some of the large ranch  land owners are doing. So the question of it being "worth" it, isn't an issue.  It's worth it when the lands are of the aesthetic value we are looking for and/or adjacent to my own holdings in different parts of the painted desert.  Still the resale value would make even $3,000. in legal fees profitable, however, since I don't intend to resell I'm keeping costs down by doing it myself, like many other legal matters I have done pro se.  And if the owners choose to redeem, I'm fine with that too and like the court give them the opportunity to do so.  There are a few developed properties and I don't invest in those, not wanting to put anyone out of their homes.

I really appreciate this forum and the assistance that everyone is so willing to give.  Thanks again.

New to foreclosing vacant land in Navajo Co, Arizona.  One of my tax lien Intent to foreclose notices came back "vacant", another "undeliverable as addressed, unable to forward" (both addresses were addresses on file with Navajo County and where notices had to be sent).  I assume I must try to track down the owners or heirs, if deceased (one is deceased) and send new Intents to Foreclose with new 30 day or greater dates with intent to file the foreclosure action?  Or can I just file the foreclosure action to the heirs of the deceased "vacant" one (I have found them, having talked to a relative who gave me the heirs' names) without sending a new intent to foreclose?  Does anyone have experience with this?  Thanks.