My week in review:12/31/12 - I filtered through a list of tax records for property owners in my township, narrowing it down to only Out of State Owners with a sale date prior to 2008, and an assessed value under $300k. 1/1/13 - I printed and compiled 50 yellow letters for out of state owners, which will go in the mail tomorrow.

I know there are many companies out there that will appeal you assessment for you and typically charge 25% of what they save you the first year.

We can also choose not to let the county assessor into our house for their new assessment.

You also have governing docs (CCRs) that dictate what can and can't be done with the property in addition to paying HOA fees and possible special assessments.

The one thing I hate about condos is COA and special assessment fees.

One thing to note: You cannot put your assessment fee into escrow/deduct from your assessment fee unless there is a specific provision in the association documents or a specific provision under state law.

I invest in tax liens and recently received a notice that one of the properties I have a lien on is in violation of the housing code and fines and penalties may begin being assessed next month if the corrections are not made.Because I am not the owner, I cannot make the corrections the city has demanded.

You won't be able to get a warranty to protect you when buying a house (a home warranty may protect you from little stuff, but probably not big stuff), and when you buy a foreclosure (or any property), you are taking a risk.If you're not comfortable assessing potential problems yourself, you should definitely get a home inspection.

These days, for anything foundation/structural, I bring in an engineer to assess the situation and recommend a solution.

Our attorney will be handling this process, and please be advised fines of up to $100 per day may be assessed beginning Tuesday March 20th and each day thereafter you remain on the premise.