Home is 2 years old, and located in my neighborhood, on my street to be exact. Original owners are friends of mine that sold it 20K under value to a couple about 7 months ago due to divorce. The second owners put 100K down, nicely finished the basement, installed an in ground pool, and made other various upgrades.
Tax assessed value is $350,000 (before the finished basement & other upgrades)
Payoff on it is $227,000.
The current owners have just been charged (less than 2 weeks ago) with embezzlement of over 800K from their employer and are “on the run” as we speak. House is just sitting, but mortgage is current as of now.
The Problem:
I desperately want to purchase the home as my primary residence, and have the cash in place to do so. It’s proven nearly impossible to locate the owners, and if I am ever able to, I’m sure the FBI and everyone else that is looking for them will first. Since the situation with this property is so new and it’s pretty much under the radar at this point, I feel a sense of urgency to jump right on it, I just don’t know where to jump!
My Question:
Does anyone have any idea as to what the legal procedure may be on this property given this situation? Will in be seized? Liens filed? Regular foreclosure process?
Any and all of your advice and or ideas are GREATLY appreciated.
:cool OKAY first off who holds the paper on the home your friends // who ??
DO you have the funds to buy off the note ?? IF so this may be one way to go BUT if the bank holds the note this may be very hard to do but if your friends do this would be easy
YES if they are on the run from the fbi yes it could be seized by them as to help pay the debt they owe :banghead
but i would go for buying the paper note first on this deal as it would look as if this may be the ony way to control this home at this point as the owners are not going to just show up to do paperwork with you :shocked
STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE! Even if you can buy it from them its still going to be something that was bought with stolen funds and may be taken by the feds without giving you one cent.
I don’t see how you can easily move in via adverse possession if its being watched by the feds. Just being there might also make you a suspect since they’ll think you know them.
If the property ends up being seized, then what? I learned last night that they have 4 other homes in the area that are in a similar situation. At some point their employer will want to recoup their stolen funds. Wouldn’t they attempt to do so via the sale of the property? :huh
I appreciate all for your responses and advice. Keep 'em coming…I’m still not completely convinced that I am ready to walk away just yet. :confused
There’s that Dog the Bounty Hunter show. Maybe you can get a joint episode with him and Flip This House
Adverse posession seems risky. You’d have to keep that up for 5 years. It probably will end up seized by the government. It may go through auction after that.
forget about it. this property will sit for years until something happens such as a seizure by employer, etc. also, any trasnaction at this point could be undone by the courts.
adverse possession is extra rare; particular for an entire property. in most cases it involve small sections of lots (for example) that appear to part of another lot.
Keep an eye on property tax deliquencies if it sits vaccant for a long time. They don’t wait on anyone to get their money. You’ll have to lookup what the rules are in your state in terms of long delinquent they have to be and what happens. You may be able to purchase a tax lien on it.
I talked with a couple investor friends of mine who all seem to agree that buying the note from the bank and then foreclosing on it myself is pretty much my only option.
My thoughts are:
Worst Case: The homeowners (or someone) continue(s) to pay the mortgage, and I’m stuck holding the note. :eek
Better Case: Someone else gets the home on the steps for higher than the payoff, and I make a few bucks.
Best Case: I end up with the property at their payoff amount.
What do you all think of that idea? I’m sure there are other things that could happen that I am not thinking of.
:cool i agree all the way as this is what i said on my first post on this :shocked WHO has the note i said buy the paper you own the paper you own the real estate and the ones on the run owe you !!!
AS well the fbi would have to i belive pay you off as this is a lein on the property and what ever they could get would be to pay off the debt ( if they were to seize it ) :banghead
The way that I understand it, once the property has gone through the entire foreclosure process (which is a short time frame here in GA, about 45 days max), any and all rights for anyone to do anything ie: liens, seizure etc. are non-existent. Don’t quote me on that, I was told by a couple of investors that this was the case, and am in the process of confirming that now.
You have to remember that the home was purchased by ill gottten means, e.g. stolen money. The feds will seize this property, and as the owners are on the run and it will be tied up for years. Unless the owners agree to sign it over once captured. This scenario screams of a massive headache and it will in all likelyhood be a long drawn out process.
Also the injured party, their ex-employer will want restitution and will either let the courts order the sale or sue them on their own and obtain a judgement and then place a lien on the property.
I am sure there are other deals with less headqache and alot less risk than this one. I would say to run, not walk away from this until the matter has been adjudicated via the courts. Just MHO.
The bank can foreclose all they want but once the authorities get a whiff they would just obtain a court injunction to stop the sale as the home represents the proceeds of a criminal enterprise. Whomever holds the note would be second to the US Gov't, believe that! :shocked
