Mitch Goldstein | Coach Mitch | November 8th, 2008Nearly 700 properties have delinquent property tax payments
Clay County is preparing for possibly the biggest tax sale it has ever had.
Clay County Auditor Mary Jo Alumbaugh said. “In total, there are about $1.5 million in delinquent taxes on those properties.”
Alumbaugh added the loss of those tax dollars affects all taxing units, including the county, townships and the schools.
“The amount of eligible properties has skyrocketed in the past few years, and there is no clear reason why,”Alumbaugh said. “In 2002, the tax sale had 68 properties involved and there were 206 in 2006, but there are so many more this year.”
The Auditor’s and Treasurer’s Offices are currently in the process of mailing out certified letters to the believed owners of record and a list of eligible properties to Synergistic Resource Integration (SRI), Inc., Indianapolis, who will be conducting this year’s tax sale, which is scheduled for Dec. 5, at 10 a.m., on the first floor of the Clay County Courthouse.
Alumbaugh said. “…we are trying to locate the owner of the property to notify them that the property is involved in the tax sale.”
If the owner is unable to be contacted based on a common location on record for the property, a letter will be sent by First Class Mail to the actual location of the property as another attempt to give notification of the tax sale.
“We search every possibility to make contact with either the owner, or someone who would benefit from knowing the property is involved,”Alumbaugh said.”By sending the letter to the property itself, we may be able to contact a possible renter of the property who can get in contact with the owner or landlord.”
The properties eligible for the tax sale, by law, will also be advertised in the newspaper three times …to notify the public which properties may be involved in the auction.
When the sale occurs, the starting bid on each respective property is the total of the delinquent taxes, penalties, other assessments and tax sale costs.
For the first time, if a property is not sold during the sale, it will be turned over to the Clay County Commissioners, who will conduct an accelerated sale.
“The overall goal of a tax sale is to get all the properties back on the tax roll,”Alumbaugh said. “Getting properties back on the tax roll benefits all of the tax entities in the county.”
Once a property is auctioned off in the tax sale, the winning bidder has a long process and a year-long wait before they have the possibility of actually receiving a tax deed for the property.
“The highest bidder has to pay all of the costs associated with the sale by the end of business that day and will receive a tax sale certificate for the property,”Alumbaugh said. “After that, it is solely their responsibility to conduct a title search on the property and send out notices to those with a vested interest in the property.”
She added the winning bidder must also petition the court for an order to receive a tax deed within a year from the date of the tax sale, in which the owner has time to pay all the delinquencies and fees to keep the property.
“The tax sale certificate expires a year to the date after the tax sale was conducted,”Alumbaugh said. “If the delinquencies are not paid and the highest bidder does not adhere to all of the terms of their purchase, the certificate is gone and they do not receive their money back. They would be refunded if the property owner makes good with their delinquent payments within the year.”
See the entire article: http://www.thebraziltimes.com/story/1467077.html
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Coach Mitch’s REFLECTIONS
Your Government At Work
Because the government has created the current financial crises, many hundreds of thousands of worthy Americans will be losing their homes. Foreclosures are currently running at the rate of 40,000 per month.
Tax delinquencies are doubling!!!
The number of tax delinquencies are spiraling upward, and at this point, they seem to be out of control. County after county is reporting major increases in the number of properties that are delinquent in taxes and the number of properties available at tax sales have sky rocketed.
Tax Collectors could do their job much better
The Constitution requires that “Due Process” is necessary prior to a property being taken from an owner. This is just.
Tax Collectors will maintain steadfastly that they are doing all that the law demands when noticing tax delinquents that their properties are in jeopardy. However, are they doing their job as well as it could be done? Are the due process requirements strong enough or is “due process” just a nice phrase meant to mollify the highly taxed public?
Tax Collectors use Madison Avenue language and tactics to present their case. Tax Collectors parse their words and state things very carefully so they are factual and true – but often do not give a complete picture of the situation. They don’t tell the whole truth, So Help Them G_D.
Example: “We search every possibility to make contact with either the owner, or someone who would benefit from knowing the property is involved,”Alumbaugh said.
From this statement you would think that the tax collector’s are putting forth a significant effort to find the tax delinquent. Few would take from this statement that they merely send a letter to the property, with no follow up. This is what I mean by Madison Avenue tactics. When the tax collector say’s “We search every possibility…” they actually mean, “We search within the requirements of the law, allowing us to say ‘every possibility.’ ”
Noticing requirements are not strong enough
A major area of due process is, Notice. The tax payer must be told that the property is in jeopardy. This is done by mail and by newspaper advertisement.
Perhaps these methods were adequate decades ago, but there are methods available today which, if employed, would get much better results, and actually get in touch with owners who are about to lose their property.
A skip trace should be required
If a property is being taken, to my mind, it is not adequate to simply send a letter to the property in the hope “…to make contact with either the owner, or someone who would benefit from knowing the property is involved.”
Collectors today can track down anyone. Add the cost of the skip trace to the other costs of the tax delinquency. If the owner has abandoned the property and they have no interest in it, that’s fine – but they should be asked.
The county wants the overages
I believe that a major reason that such a low threshold for notice is allowed is that the county does not want the owners of tax delinquent property to be told about the property going to tax sale.
The county is owed the back taxes and some administrative costs. Any overages paid by the high bidder at the tax sale is supposed to be paid to the tax delinquent, the previous owner. It is in the county’s financial interest therefore NOT to find the owner.
Owners should be tracked down and given overages
Deduct the cost of the skip trace from the overage, that’s fair. But, don’t you think that someone would want the monies that are legally owed them? If the government wanted to be honorable and find the owners, and give them the excess proceeds of the auction, then they would. Rather, the government wants to take every penny it can take from you.
Jefferson said it best
“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”
Take advantage of the situation
Coach Mitch’s “Ridiculously Simple System…” is tailor made for today’s economic travails.
Because of their situation, so many sellers today are willing to agree to almost any offer for their property that you need to give serious attention to the idea that NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE YOUR FORTUNE IN REAL ESTATE.
A very significant percentage of the tax delinquent properties are FREE and CLEAR of mortgages and therefore the owners can sell at any price and for any terms that they choose. No other type of real estate investing can say this.
See Coach Mitch’s “Ridiculously Simple System…” for details.
Take action,
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