Posted by David Krulac on July 02, 2003 at 20:19:16:
Costa Rica of 6 months.
There are people promoting such schemes, but in my 4 decades of real estate investment, you can’t just claim vacant property. In Pa. you have to wait 21 years, you have to pay the taxes and for vacant land you have to fence it in to the exclusion of all others.
He seems to be confusing Quiet Title Action with Adverse Possession, those are two distinct legal actions. For a QTA, you must have some form of title, some basis for your claim. Just because a property is vacant that is not a valid cliam to the property.
I think he is confused, particularily when he uses my own reference on the legal forum.
I found a house with only a 7k equity mortage loan. The owners died and the house was left to the kids they did not pay. The records office downtown said that the house was auctioned but no file of sale?
I was told to contact the attorney that handled the case.
Then they said the bank that bought the house back went out of business and another bank bought the house form them. I called the second bank and the said they lost the file cant find the papper work. All this may sound fishy, But the house was foreclosed on in MAy 2001… The home is still empty 2003.
There is alot of equity in this house.
Is there any way to get to the bottom of this
I learned about Quiet Title Action several years ago when I sold a property and the buyer was obtaining a new mortgage and therefore wanted clear title. The property had been sold on wrap-around contracts several times. The first people in the chain of title - and who actually were the title holders - could not be located. So a QTA was done. From the replies to my other posting, it is obvious that this does not apply to abandoned properties where the owner cannot be located, so I stand corrected. I hope that you receive an answer to your question. My guess is that the recorder’s office has documentation that the 2nd bank owns it. If you present this to the bank along with an offer they might just make you a good deal.
You can consider the property abandoned and do a quiet title action to put it into your name. Most large title companies have attorneys on staff or on retainer who can do this for you. They’ll do a title search and try to locate the owner. They’ll also publish legal notices in the newspaper, etc. If after a month or so, no one claims ownership to the house then it’s yours. The last one I did cost me about $1,000 for the attorney and costs. The following messages on the Legal Forum deal with this issue: http://www.creonline.com/legal/wwwboard7/messages/10137.html http://www.creonline.com/legal/wwwboard7/messages/15612.html
However, I would ask the title company to do a PR or title search first. If the records clearly indicate that the second bank owns the property then they will claim ownership when presented with the documentation, so you’ve wasted your money for the attorney. In that case I would obtain copies of the relevant documents from the Recorder’s Office, meet with their REO person, tell them the situation about the house (total disrepair, liability for them, etc.) and give them a very low-ball offer to convey title to you.
From the replies to my posting, it is obvious that QTA does not apply to abandoned properties where the owner cannot be located, so I stand corrected. Thanks for clarifying this for me.
Quieting title on abandoned properties??? - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on July 02, 2003 at 12:00:41:
John J: I have never heard of what you are speaking and I’m wondering if you could clarify. In your post you are suggesting a quiet title action to someone who has no interest in the property. I don’t know where you are located, but to the best of my knowledge one can’t quiet a title in which they have no interest in CA. First there would have to be an adverse possession, which takes five years here.
Where are you located? I’d certainly like to learn more about how this is done in your area.
Posted by Kristine-CA on July 03, 2003 at 01:03:04:
John J: Actually, qta does apply to abandoned properties. However, it is necessary to complete whatever kind of requirements your state has for adverse possession. If one completes the AD requirements, one has a claim to the title (per whatever the laws of your state) that will need to be quieted. The owner does not have to be located in a qta, but there are kinds of requirements for notification/publication, etc.
The reason people here questioned your post is because one can’t file a qta without SOME kind of claim. Abandoned properties aren’t for the taking. Well, actually some are, it’s just more complicated than a qta.
By the way, a qta does not guarantee anything. A title company is not bound to insure for title granted via qta. They will consider it, of course. But if they have reasons to suspect risk, they won’t insure. It seems these days they’ve come up with a lot of reasons not to insure.
Re: Quieting title on abandoned properties??? - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on July 02, 2003 at 16:13:45:
Bill H: I think he may have been referring to quieting title when you have an interest or for states that have a short adverse possession requirement. Is there anything shorter than 5 years?
Can’t imagine anything quite that simple. One can’t just go around quieting title on abandoned properties, when one doesn’t have a title to quiet. Again, unless I’m missing something. Sincerely, Kristine