The Washington Post - 07.03.2020

13

EZ

THE WASHINGTON POST

.

SATURDAy, MARCH 7, 2020

or another office that handles the filing of

property records. You then will have to

understand how much is owed in unpaid

taxes and see what the property is worth.

If the unpaid taxes are $50,000 and the

home is worth less than that, it might not

be worth putting much more money into

the home. On the other hand, if $3,000 is

owed in taxes and the home is worth

$100,000, you might very well want to be

the highest bidder on the tax sale.

Keep in mind that other tax buyers may

be thinking what you’re thinking: that you

only need to bid the $3,000 in back taxes

(or whatever the number actually is) to

get the property; but if other tax buyers

suspect that the owner is missing and that

they, too, can get ownership of the home,

the bidding may go up and may be much

more than what is owed in taxes.

A real estate attorney may be able to

give you more insight into the process.

Good luck, and tell us how things turn

out.

Ilyce Glink is the author of “100 Questions

Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask” (4th

Edition). She is also the cEO of Best Money

Moves, an app that employers provide to

employees to measure and dial down financial

stress. Samuel J. Tamkin is a chicago-based

real estate lawyer. contact them through her

website, ThinkGlink.com.

21 years to get title to the home

transferred into your name.

In some jurisdictions, the p eriod may

be shorter, even though the circumstances

are similar. While you wait out the clock,

you need to understand that the rightful

owner of the home could always come and

claim ownership of the home and kick you

out. (After repaying you the back taxes

plus interest.)

When you go to the tax sale, you can

bid the amount owed on the tax bill or try

to outbid any other prospective buyer.

Once you win the bid at the tax sale, you

have to wait a year or two (or whatever is

the time set by state law) for the

redemption period to run out. Once the

redemption period has passed, you can

petition the court to issue the deed to the

home to you. You would then record that

deed, and the property would become

yours.

We’ve somewhat oversimplified the

process for purposes of your question.

You’d need to research further whether

the home has other liens or problems on

the title and whether simply being the

winning bidder at the tax sale and then

making future tax payments could

ultimately get you ownership of the home.

Tr y to investigate the status of the title

to the home. You might be able to get

more information at the recorder of deeds

you have the opportunity to bid at the tax

sale and buy the home. You may not gain

anything by paying the taxes. You are not

the owner and don’t get an ownership

interest in the home if you do pay the

taxes.

You may be thinking that you can

simply live in the home, pay the taxes and

the home will eventually become yours.

Well, that may be true. In some states, if

you claim the home as your own, pay the

taxes and treat the home as yours, you

may be able to file a lawsuit in court after

Q : I rented a house from a
person who turned out not
to be the owner of the
home. I contacted the
authorities and the
scammer disappeared. We
were told by the police to
try to find the true owner
of the home. We even hired
a private investigator but had no luck.
Now the home is being sold at auction
due to delinquent taxes owed. Is there any
way I can gain title to the home without
being able to locate the owner? I can then
pay the delinquent back taxes before the
auction.
A : So here’s a question for you: Now that
you know that the person who claimed to
be your landlord is a fraud, to whom are
you paying rent?
During the last Great Recession, some
owners who had rented their homes to
tenants abandoned their properties to
allow the lenders to foreclose on the
homes. The tenants were left in limbo.
They paid no rent and eventually were
evicted when the homes were taken over
by the lenders.
You’re in a somewhat similar situation.
The owner of the home has gone missing
and hasn’t been found. Without an owner
paying property taxes, the home may
eventually get sold in a tax sale. However,

Winning the bidding is just the first step i n a t ax-lien acquisition

Consumer Advice

Real

Estate
Matters

ILYCE GLINK
AND SAMUEL
J. TAMKIN

MArK DuncAn/ASSOcIATED PrESS

An abandoned house that has been

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in E ast Cleveland, Ohio, in 2 014.

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