Posted by John Behle on February 04, 2000 at 20:38:59:
He doesn’t have a right to sell you the property - unless it is cleared by the court. So, assuming that is cleared, you have the IRS lien. They don’t go away easily and you can’t get clear title without it doing so. You pretty much have to assume that will need to be paid.
If, after all that it still looks good, then you just need to clear a sale with the court and pay the IRS off. Now, is the court going to give away that equity? Not necessarily. Creditors could and should object and the judge might be reluctant anyway. He would tend to think it is more important to sell the property at market value and pay the creditors than to give it to you. Personally, I think he should give it to you, but he doesn’t value my opinion.
MANY property owners think they can sell, finance, etc. when they are in bankruptcy. Not without working through and getting the approval of the court. In some cases, the court can be much more reasonable than the seller. We bought one property for 50% of appraised value through a bankruptcy where the owner was kicking and screaming the whole way.
It’s possible the property is not in the Chapter 13 any more and if so, you don’t have the court to worry about, but the IRS lien is pretty much a problem.