Real Estate Investor FAQ
Answers To Your Questions

P.S. There has recently been some F.S. and U.S.C. changes affecting superiority to issuance of a tax deed, certificate of title, Clerk fees, and federal liens. These updates can not be found on my site or anyone else's. This is, have to get information for tax deed, mortgage foreclosure and certificate investors.
Update To Info

Real Estate Investor FAQ
Florida Foreclosures (From James: I usually post my own answers to your questions here but I just had a compelling phone conversation with Erika Ginsberg-Klemmt from Realforeclosure.org out of Sarasota and decided to post her interesting Q&A instead)

What is the best way to determine the order of superiority when the foreclosing entity is a junior lien holder? IE-the party foreclosing is holder of a recorded lien such as a HOA lien or mechanics lien?

Answer
In general, but not in all cases, first mortgages with a bank survive most junior liens (condo and homeowner association liens, construction liens, mechanical liens) Of course, the best way to determine whether a property would be free and clear of all other liens would be to pull a title and consult an attorney.

(From James: If you have obtained a certificate of title for a junior lien through a Florida foreclosure auction, she may be able to help recover your hard earned cash. I am not being paid for my endorsement.)

The reason I am posting this is because she, like myself, would like to see fewer, FAR FEWER, people purchasing property which have the potential for ruinning their financial future.

Here is a copy of an email I recently sent to an individual who contacted me in regards to this.

James, I look at the Miami-Dade online auction every day ( usually about 150 properties per day) and 99% of the time the judgement amount is significantly higher than the appraised amount. And the final sale price is usually 50-60% of the appraised amount. Would these be reviewed by a judge for fairness as you discuss? As an outsider the final sale prices seem very low. Are the appraisals too high? What happens when a property that has a final judgement amount of $500k sells for $100k on the auction site? Is that it...does the bank get the 100K and its over? What if there are multiple liens on the property, say $300K 1st mtge, $100k second mtge, $50k tax and $50k HOA and property sells for 100K at the auction? I assume $50k goes to tax and $50k goes to 1st mtge and others receive zero and winning bidder owns the property free and clear. Regards Rob

James Response
The foreclosures you are now seeing brought forward at the Miami-Dade Foreclosure Auction are mortgaged beyond value, this you already know. The Dade counties appraised values are way off as they are in most of the state.

Judge Fairness. Foreclosure properties will in most instances go unreviewed. The 10 day window allows for the bank to cry foul in the event of an unusal circumstance occuring. Example; the attorney who represents the banks interest fails to make it to the auction on time and therefore the bidding begins and the property sells for an unusually low price. This window allows the sale to be reviewed by a judge and the sale may be voided. I have only seen this happen once, the attorney wasn't there bidding started at $10k property sold for $27k, property value of $140k. This was over 10 years ago. The sale was voided and money returned to high bidder. The reason more auctions are not voided is that there are costs for the bank to reauction the prpoperty, legal fees, advertisement fees, clerk fees, court costs, etc.

Who Gets What:
It all depends on who the foreclosing entity is and their interest in the property. Scenario: 1st mort $500k second mort of $200k, HOA lien for $2000, Tax Lien $2000, Code Violation Lien $2000, High Bid $600,000

If the first mort forecloses, they get $500k, tax collector gets $2,000 from proceeds of sale, County Code violation paid from proceeds of sale $2000, HOA lien paid from proceeds $2000, remaining balance is paid from proceeds to satisfy 2nd mort, any unremaining unpaid balance is nullified.

If the second mortgage is foreclosing, in the same scenario you will have to pay the remaining unpaid balance of the first mortgage. If the winning bid is $200k, 2nd mort foreclosure, you would inherit and be responsible to pay off the first mortgage and all of the liens listed above.

If the property is being foreclosed for the code violation, which is rare but I have seen it happen on vacant land, you as the winning bidder would be responsible for repayment of all the mortgages which were recorded prior to the recording of the lien and all superior liens would need be paid.

I have pages dedicated to this information in my ebooks and website, I know there is a ton of information in there and much of it is not easy reading material. Regards, James

Real Estate Investor FAQAnswer
Hey Gwen, thanks for the uplift.

I don't know much about Oklahoma but I ran a quick search and found some great information for you. Lien Sale instructions, Information, Publications. It seems that they don't conduct tax deed sales "auctions", only certificates. But that is a good thing in this case. If unredeemed, the certificate holder becomes the owner of the tax deed. The owner or party of interest has 2 years and 2 months to redeem, if unredeemed you own the tax deed. (unfortunately certificate only carries an 8% annual interest). The low interest rate may keep many investors out of the certificate market, meaning a greater opportunity for you. I would still stick with my certificate numbers I feel that expensive certificates would still pose an increased risk, stick to the middle of the road.

Word of caution, they apparently don't conduct a lien search at any point in the propcess. I took a quick look at the Clerk of Court's official records search page for Oklahoma County and it seems they are organized much the same way as Florida. So, if you follow along one of my research tutorials on official records research it will give you a leg up on title searches, grantor/grantee etc. I would assume that much like Florida everything is mandated by Statute therefore what you find in one county will be mirrored in others.

One more key, take a look at the county held certificates there may be some which have been held by the county for a while. It seems that certificates held by the county for 1 1/2 years result in sale of the property. I wonder what the document of conveyance is and is it an insurable conveyance? (Can you get title insurance) If the document of conveyance is a tax deed then there is additional legal actions which need be taken to obtain an insurable title, if the property is conveyed by certificate of title or county deed, you may not have to take additional actions. A title agent in OK should be able to answer the question, it may cost you $100 to actually get all your answers if you can talk to an underwriter who works for the title agent. It is worth it. Keep me posted as to your progress. If I can be of further service let me know. Real Estate Investor FAQ http://www.oklahomacounty.org/treasurer/LienSaleInfo2.htm

Have a question, here's your chance to ask.

Real Estate Investor FAQAnswer
Each of the counties of Hawaii: Hawaii, Mauai, Kauai, Kalawao and Honolulu hold tax deed sales. Tax deeds carry a 12% interest rate and can be redeemed for one year from the date of recording of the tax deed. Each county has discretion over procedural requirements for tax deed auctions.

Interesting Point, the redemption is negotiated between the tax deed purchaser and the property owner without county government involvement.

Interesting point, the recording of the tax deed is the responsibility of the tax deed purchaser and the one year redemption period begins upon recording of the conveyance.

For procedural requirements for County of Hawaii Tax Auctions and Hawaii County Tax Deed Sale Lists Look here

Hawaii Tax Sale Info/Hawaii Tax Deed Property List

Here is some information from Kauai County. See the Kauai Tax Sale Instructions Sheet/PDF which also has contact information for the other state of Hawaii Counties. I also found the same link to the information on the Maui Division of Taxation site as well.

Maui Tax Sale, Kauai Tax Deed Sale

Real Estate Investor FAQAnswer
I only know of one free source for bankruptcy leads (auctions) and it is from ABI, American Bankruptcy Institute, and the site is hosted by NABT, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustee's. Their site lists national bankruptcy auctions for cars, homes, land, receivables, notes, stock, time shares, boats, furniture, business goods, clothing, the best part is there is no fee for access or subscription to buy. Many sites link to them and charge you for their secret source.

Bankruptcy Leads, Auctions in Your Area Access IS FREE

Some good information on locating bankruptcy auctions and national auctions can be found in my National Sales/Auction pages on my site. There are a lot of free links there which can help you.

Real Estate Investor FAQ Answer
It seems at a quick glance that Kansas City is in Jackson County. Here are some great and helpful links.
Auction Info
Delinquent Lands Search
Jackson County Appraiser’s Office
Auction Protocol
Official Records Search, can locate mortgages, deeds, liens, etc

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