All Forum Posts by: Stacey Cole

What advice would you give someone who owns a property but does not live in it. The owners address on their drivers license shows the property address and voting card shows that address. However, the own did rent this property out while they were living elsewhere to pursue other interests. The owner did claim the homestead tax exemption for the last 4 years and was granted it until recently. The courthouse has asked for 2 years of back tax returns. The returns show that the home has been used as a rental. The house is not financed as a rental nor is it insured as a rental. The owner had originally intended to move back into the home after 4 years (the lease is up in July of this year) but has decided to stay local... just not live there for financial reasons. As a result, the owner has been hit with a 12k tax bill. Before paying the bill, the owner wanted to know if there was any legal way to reduce the tax burden provided the facts above. The owner never intends to move back to the home at this time but knows that because of the location, this is a great asset to have. The owner also doesn't not wish to sell because they are lead to believe that since depreciation has been taken, that a portion of the gain would be lost back to the government. Is this true? The house could possibly make 100k in the sale of it. The owner is wondering how people have multiple rental properties and not get buried in those property taxes because it is not their primary residence. The owner cannot raise the rent to cover the cost. The rental monthly price is already at the top of the tier for the area. Because of HOA dues every month, the owner ends up paying more than what they collect. The owner has never had a profit over the last 4 years. Should the owner refinance the house as a rental and would that help moving forward to reduce the tax burden? While they don't plan to move back into this home, they don't know if it would be a rental forever either. I guess it would be whatever makes the most financial sense. Thank you!

HI! I was just wondering since these posts were 4 years ago if anyone had any updates they would like to share. :) 

@Paul Danieli @Katharine Chartrand Hi! Can you share with me the process after you won? My husband and I would like to bid and have only seen negative comments about nationstar homesearch and greenlight. We are really concerned about being taken and them keeping our money because if them defaulting or not doing their due diligence and then we would never see that money again because if the term and conditions on their page favoring the seller so heavily it feels scammish. We just don't have the money to throw away that why we're going the foreclosure route. Thank you! 

@Kathy Lu @Christopher Leon hello !  Can you tell me status on your loans? I'm asking because my husband and I found a home we would love to fix up and wanted to place a direct offer. We were told we would have to go through the homesearch auction process. We read the term and conditions and it seamed the buyer had no rights what so ever and that homesearch could pull or change the rules of the game at any point. This did not sit well with us because we are just two people who are looking to move into a bigger home. Not investors not real state agents. Our realtor has not done nearly the amount of research I have. The home has been empty for 4 years. Had water in the basement and drywall was removed April 2014. They said that was 10k. After being in the home the air was very stale. I would like a remediation quote on the home an inspection and appraisal. I'm willing to pay   For these services before I enter the auction just to make sure they can be fixed before I buy a money pit. Surprisingly we had a friend who is a home builder walk it with us and he said it was in amazing shape for being empty 4 years and encouraged us to make a move from his perspective.  I had to go through greenlight and our rep is very professional and has tried every angle to help us overcome our auction anxiety by reaching out to the listing agent and asking the asset managers to go direct to no avail. Meanwhile I went to the courthouse and asked for records. There were over a million in liens against the home. It is listed for 307 starting auction price is 160k. Auction started yesterday. I found on the internet that the house was in a sheriffs sale in 2010. So that might explain the 3-4 million that was wiped clean but what about the outstanding liens to totaling over a million. Where did they come from?  Gal at the courthouse said they were up to date as of July 10th. The greenlight rep said that the liens would be taken care of at escrow at closing and he was not aware of those liens or the mold removal. He said homesearch has never closed on a home without rectifying existing liens. If nationstar owns the property shouldn't they clear this stuff before putting it up for auction?  This house was auctioned in March  listed for 169k on 3/24. Sold for 169 on March 25 and was back on the market march 27 for 169k a month later went up to 291 and a month later landed at 307. Didn't the lien issue come up in march? So here are my burning questions if anyone can help me because I'm in love with this house but I've read all these horrible stories about nation-star and homesearch being a bad company and misleading people with paperwork not correct or incomplete or not disclosing all the details up front and asking for all this money and then when folks have a chance to read the paperwork they get after the auction they want to back out because the title wasn't cleared or whatever the case may be. I realize the risk you take on a property in foreclosure. What I  wasn't banking on was the conflict of interest between nation star homesearch and greenlight. It seems like a huge conflict of interest and I don't know legally how this is going on. Would I be bidding on the home or one of the many liens? Will those liens indeed be cleared at closing so the house is free of baggage? Has anyone ever bought a home through home searched and lived to tell about it? 

Any advice is welcomed before I drop a ton of money in an attorney to confirm something I'm already suspicious of? thank you in advance!