I am reviewing a list of the upcoming Tax Deed Sale in one of the counties I am working on. In the "owner address" I find the name of the owner of record but the address is somebody else's, maybe a friend or a relative who lives non far from the property. This could indicate that the owner lives out of state and is receiving mail regarding the property at some other address and then it gets forwarded to the owner. Would you consider this a valid prospect and send him a proposal? How about a property where the owner of record is the sherif of some nearby county. Would that indicate that the property has been through some type of òlegal proceeding already? Would you consider it for purchase? What happens if the property has already gone up for auction in a Tax Deed Sale and has not been sold? Would you contact the owner of record and try to buy from him very cheap waiting for the next auction to obtain excess proceeds?
question 1: usually there are only three situations that would result in there being a second owner name in the record.
1. there are more than 1 owners (several family members, or even business partners). often the county has not enough space in their database fields to put in all names of the owners in the "owner 1" field. therefore they pur any additional owners into the owner 2 field. 2. the property was sold on a "contract for Deed" or "sale Agreement" similar to what i use, and as a result the buyer and the seller show up as co-owners. 3. there is a C/O, meaning that in this case truly the owner is one person but they ahve the mail sent to them at somebody else's address. (often the county also leaves off the C/O)
In all three cases the answer is YES, I send out the letter, because I never know which of the three scenarios is the case. Obviously if it is scenario 2, then I probably won't be interested in buying it, but just from looking at the records there is often no way of telling if 1,2, oe 3 is the case.
question 2: No i would not consider it for purchase. In that case the property was already lost for taxes of for a foreclosure and in some cases and states the Sherriff becomes the new owner who then puts up a "sherriff sale" and sells the property at auction. That it then the only way it can be purchased.
Question 3: NO, Excess proceeds only work if you were the OWNER OF RECORD At or before the time the property was lost for taxes. since it was already lost for taxes and the state owns it, you could not do the excess proceeeds here anymore. You would have had to buy the property from the owner BEFORE it was foreclosed on by the state. therefore, if you can buy it over the counter that means that now the sale is over and the original owner is no longer the owner. Therefore you can't buy it from him anymore.