Home buying comes with all sorts of unknowns. From seeing the property online, to viewing in person, to exposing the details of the title history, the road is often filled with surprises. Once under contract, the title company’s work begins, and a whole new string of unusual circumstances can arise. So what’s an agent to do when the title company calls and informs the buyer that their future home was once sold on the tax deed auction? Most people (beyond the title agent) would not know why that’s an issue, but a tax deed in the back chain means the property cannot get title insurance, and therefore the buyer cannot obtain a mortgage. Once the shock subsides, all parties in the transaction would probably wonder why that would be the case. A tax deed sale requires meticulous noticing of the owners, allowing them ample time to redeem their property before the auction. But even after the auction, prior owners or their heirs can attempt to make claims on that property, and ac…

Taking the right measures at the time of the sale can prevent headaches.  Improper tax deed vesting (the legal assignment of title and ownership of a property) is a common mistake. Scenarios can include everything from invalid LLC’s to misspelled names. Take a few minutes to save yourself thousands of dollars in legal fees and months of time by getting this right from the start. First, if the clerk issues a wrongly assigned deed due to their error, then you can likely amend this with a corrective deed.  A mistake by the clerk on a recorded tax deed is referred to as a scrivener’s error. Some examples include: Errors in the legal description of the property. Misspelling or incomplete name of the tax deed purchaser. If the error was your own, then the Clerk will inform you that they cannot change it. A misspelling of your company name on a tax deed can be a major problem. It means the tax deed is invalid, as the LLC on the document does not exist as a re…

After 6 years working in the Florida tax deed industry, we can say with confidence it is a sub-sector of the real estate world with a unique set of both challenges and opportunities. One of our investors recently described it is both “complicated and legally convoluted” but acknowledged it can prove to be “tremendously profitable”. Due to the tax deed market’s complex nature, it is vital for prudent investors to know the laws pertaining to tax deeds to protect themselves from improper claims of liability, such as those made by a Homeowners Association for unpaid assessment liens accrued prior to the property being sold at auction. One of our clients recently bought a condo at a tax deed sale. He stopped by the HOA office to update contact information and was handed a claim of lien for unpaid HOA assessments for the past 3 years and asked to pay it in full. He was surprised by this claim of lien survival and contacted our team of attorneys, who recognized the unl…

Buying at tax deed auction can be a cheap and effective way of acquiring rental properties. Rental income provides steady returns, while still allowing you to hold the asset for future sale.  With the passage of the recent tax bill, taxes on pass-through income have dropped significantly – in some cases to almost half. Whether you own the property under your own name, an LLC, or a trust, rental property income qualifies for this low tax rate, providing that the property is separate from your primary residence. These tax changes further benefit landlords by increasing the individual standard deduction. This allows renters to achieve a higher tax return, which could reduce the allure of home ownership tax benefits versus renting. Less incentive to purchase a home means that rental properties will see a larger pool of potential tenants. Of course, this doesn’t mean bad news for the sale of the property. The housing market is currently seeing home prices rise as availability beco…