Posted by David Krulac on February 12, 2001 at 20:30:06:
get the deed. You don’t have to record it until after the judicial sale, which will help you to clear the title and preclude the necessity of a Quiet Title Action. It some extemely bad events happen then don’t ever record the deed.
I have never had sucess getting past year’s assessments reduced, hope you have better luck.
Finding “lost” owners! - Posted by Carey_PA
Posted by Carey_PA on February 12, 2001 at 18:24:52:
Many of you may already know this method of finding folks, but for those of you that don’t, give it a try.
My current deal I’m working on, I have agreed to buy 1.04 acres w/ a 3bd, 2ba rancher on it. Seller accepted my offer, settlement is March 23rd. (i wanted to do my first sfh before the convention).
Anyone, I was going to rent the home out Section 8 until I could find the owner of .0770 acres of land that contains the well to my home. This land did NOT come with the home because nobody could find the owner of the well/land. The original owner of this .0770 acres thought she sold this parcel along with the 1.04acres w/ the home, BUT she didn’t. Anyway, the realtor told me he couldn’t find her, the tax assessor, tax claim/tax lien office said they couldn’t find the lady either. They all thought she might have been deceased.
So, as I’m getting closer to closing, I’m thinking how much easier it will be to sell this 3bd, 2ba rancher with the well INCLUDED, commone sense huh? So, I go to the phone book and of course the owners name is NOT in there…BUT there are several other people with her last name in there.
I jotted all the peoples names and numbers down and called them.
When I got to the 2nd person she asked who I was and what I wanted. I explained the situation to her and she took my name and number and said that she would have the owner call me. 5 minutes later I’m talking to the “missing” owner. She thought she sold the land w/ the well on it 8 yrs. ago…anyway she said she’d be happy to give me the land when I figure out the tax situation. (there’s a big mess with how it was assessed and the past due taxes are more than they should be, so I’m waiting on a response from a letter I wrote to the tax assessors office)
Well, now I know how to find lost owners in the future…call everybody with that last name and HOPEFULLY someone is related or at least knows the person.
Hope this helps someone out.
CAREY
p.s. see ya’s in Georgia!
Yes… - Posted by Paul_MA
Posted by Paul_MA on February 13, 2001 at 01:36:42:
Always try to get the deed anyway. You don’t have to record it.
The title search or abstact is usually the clearest answer to all boundary problems.
Re: Finding “lost” owners! - Posted by Jim IL
Posted by Jim IL on February 12, 2001 at 18:42:41:
Carey,
Way to go. You are now an official REI/slueth.
After reading your post, I was thiking about what you said.
Why not get the deed now from this woman?
She already offered to “give” you the land, so why not take the deed, and hold it until you have worked all the kinks out?
This way you are in control.
You can tell the seller of the well/land that you will record the deed as soon as you have taken care of the “Details” to your satisfaction.
This will also prevent her from having second thoughts about just “Giving” this land to you.
Just imagine, tomorrow she goes to a friends house and tells them what she plans on doing and they say, “Well you know Jane , you COULD get some money from this guy. He surely wants this BADLY because the well is on that land.”
And she calls you saying, “Carey, I’ve thought this over and decided that I NEED something for this parcel of land. I want you to pay me $x,xxx for it.”
OOPS!
There went your FREE land.
Get the deed now, but wait to record it.
Just my $.02,
Jim IL
Re: Finding “lost” owners! - Posted by Carey_PA
Posted by Carey_PA on February 12, 2001 at 19:48:18:
Jim,
First things first…i’m not a he, i’m a she 
ok now that that’s done with lol the reason i won’t take the deed to the land yet is because there is a $10,800 + past due tax bill that comes with the land.
The land was assessed all wrong for 8 yrs. and that’s why the bill is so huge, obviously this includes penalties and interest. If the tax assessor re-figures the past due taxes as I suggessted then I may be interested in just having the woman deed me the land. (the tax assessor actually asked me to send them a letter explaining the situation)
the situation = there is a huge tax bill on the land because it was considered by the tax assessor as land with a dwelling on it, BUT there was never a dwelling on the land, it has always been vacant land.
If they don’t re-caluclate the past due taxes, I will wait until the land goes up for judicial sale in September. So, I’m thinking the current owner will either a) deed the land over to me or b) she’ll just let it go back to the county. (she already told me on the phone that she didn’t want the land and she would just let the county take it back)
Soooooo, do you have any ideas?
talk to ya soon,
CAREY