All Forum Posts by: Robert Davidson

Abandoned properties can be obtained even with liens. But the ease of doing so varies with the type of lien. City/county blight liens are the easiest, albeit not necessary fast. The purpose of city liens is to maintain a certain level of neighborhood value. Blight hurts value and neighbors complain. However, first and foremost the city wants the blight fixed, not necessarily the revenue. I have had success going to the city and talking to the Building Department and to a City Council member to negotiate that I would buy the house and fix all of the blight upon purchase if I could have 45 days to do so and if they would then cancel the liens with no payment due. (The city council has to approve this.) Obviously do all work with permits. They will inspect. Here in California there are many communities with abandoned houses the neighbors hate. Old mechanic's liens can often, but not always, be purchased from the lien holder at a big discount especially if the lien is a few year's old. Offer 10% to start. For IRS liens, the IRS will often (more often than people think) discharge the lien against the property (but not against the individual) if the house is abandoned or in bad condition. There is IRS Form 14135 - Application for Certificate of Discharge of Property from Federal Tax Lien.

Keep in mind that there are "Tax Deed" states and "Tax Lien" states. In a tax deed state you are bidding at the tax sale auction for a deed to the property, but that is still subject to a redemption period. So, you own the property subject to the redemption period. (Don't do any rehabbing until the redemption period lapses.) In a tax lien state, you bid on obtaining a lien on the property. After the redemption period you can obtain a deed from the county which could be a long time. But you do not own the property (yet) so you do not have any ownership rights, such as entering the house, doing repairs, etc. Also, Title companies are very wary of tax sale properties and you may have trouble getting title insurance (and hazard insurance.) While good money can be made, an attorney, who has knowledge of tax/lien sales) is definitely needed. Also, contact the owner and offer cash for the redemption right, with the correct document. .

Michael. Open filings are a lot of trouble because ALL of the person's assets, including a house are under control of the Bankruptcy court until the BK is either dismissed or closed. The role of the court is to find money to pay creditors, nothing else. So a house is a key asset. A Chapter 7 is a filing of No Assets meaning the Trustee has nothing to take. (Simplistic answer.) In a Chapter 13 the debtor has to submit a payment plan to 1. pay off the arrears in payments over up to 60 months, and 2. continue to make the regular payments. If you approach the homeowner in this situation remember most Chapter 13's are filed only to stop the foreclosure and keep the house. If the owner wants to sell at this point the Trustee must approve the sale price and he/she will require it to be appraised and sold near full market value. Dismissed is the list you want because once the BK is dismissed the court releases the Stay of collection and creditors can pursue collection, meaning filing for foreclosure. Since there may be weeks or months before a bank resumes the foreclosure process, that is your window of opportunity with the homeowner. They have lost their last real chance of keeping the house.

One big reason US Probate Leads provides all probates is because there are other people/groups that want the entire list. Investors are actually a small group. The major group is bonding companies that want to market bonds to the Personal Representative. Courts require that the Personal Representative post a bond so the estate is protected. Only if the will names someone as Personal Rep AND states that no bond be required will a bond not be demanded by the court. Bonding companies do not care if there is real estate or not.

Jeremy. Probate information is part of the Superior Court records. NODs are part of the County Recorder's office. But, there is no way to locate PRE-NOD's at a Recorder's office because, by definition, no Notice of Default has yet been filed and recorded. In California banks do not file an NOD until a payment is at least 90 days past due and sometimes much longer. Depending on the county, the NOD may be filed and date stamped as the recording date, one day but it may take several days for it to actually be entered and viewable in the computer system.

Mark, I live in Marin County (Corte Madera) and in recent years most Notices of Probate have no longer been published in the Marin IJ. Just too expensive since they have to be published several times. Most are now published in the local city papers. Twin cities has one, West Marin has one, etc. Actually, for Marin the easiest is to just go to the Records office. They have a Probate Bucket and are one of the counties that let you look at all filed the past 5 days, sometimes more. Contra Costa is another county with a bucket. Sonoma county only allows you to view a limited number per day. For earlier filings you need to fill out a form and, depending on the time of day, may have to return the next day.

Virtually all lenders require that their short sale requests be submitted by a realtor and that the house be listed on the MLS. They want to know it is a valid purchase and not a tire kicker. You need to establish relationships with realtors who have significant short sale experience and then sell the realtor that you are serious and can perform quickly. A hard Proof of Funds helps here. The ultimate goal is to have a realtor write up the Purchase & Sale Agreement and list the house on the MLS the same day as "Pending." This means that you have to be prepared mentally and with cash to proceed quickly. The problem is that many realtors will lie and claim to be an expert at short sales. You need to research those realtors who have significant actual experience. One hint is that the good ones work with a limited number of lenders. So if a realtor claims they work with all banks, run.

Hi Alex. The answer is both simple and complex. The court rules depend on which state you are in and to some extent which county. Probates are under the jurisdiction of the county Superior Court. You don't have to learn probate law, at least not in detail. But, you do need a working knowledge of the process when an estate is handled under the Independent Administration of Estates Act (much preferred) vs. public bidding in open court in front of the judge. Also, you need to know the probate documents the heirs have to sign (in addition to the normal Purchase and Sale agreement.) In California, in almost all counties you have to go to the county Superior Court record's department and request the files. Note: this is NOT the county Recorder's office. Online court records, by state law, only list very basic info such as decedent's name and file number. You have to write down the file number and then go to the court records office to view the file. Two ways to do this. One, many counties have what they call a "Probate Bucket" that they keep out on a table or you can request it to view the latest rolling five day's filings. Most counties limit the number of files you can view per day, often five or ten. The other way is to get a list of file numbers from the court online list and then request those files in person. Again, some counties restrict the number of file requests per day and/or make you come back the next day to view the files. Also, you have no way of knowing if the decedent owned any real estate (many do not) without actually reading the file. The number of heirs, joint owners, and the location of the Personal Representative can add a lot of complexity. This is not a quick, easy investment method. It's work and it's expensive (gas, drive time, having to return the next day, possibly paying someone to go the court for you, direct mail costs, follow-up, etc.) Your biggest competition will be realtors who establish relationships with probate attorneys who then refer them to the Personal Representative as soon as the probate is filed and maybe a few days before. Also, don't believe the gurus who claim that all heirs want to sell the house quickly and will take a big discount just to get rid of it. A few do, many don't. Again, this is work.