Mom
10-01-2006, 08:44 AM
My mother sold her house about 15 years ago and held the mortgage. A few years later the buyers sold the house but they continued to make the monthly mortgage payments to my mother. Then the house burnt down and they stopped making payments. There was no insurance on the house.
I contacted the buyer several times and was told he felt he had already paid more than what the property was worth and was not going to make any more payments toward the mortgage. I also tried to contact the person that he sold the house to, but could not find him. I then contacted an attorney to seek advice and was told the only option was to foreclose on the property. Since the house had burnt down and the lot was not very large and in a poor part of town, we felt that it would cost us more to recover the property and deal with the burnt house than it was worth. The property was abandoned and the city later demolished the house.
A couple of years ago (2004), I searched thru the county tax records to see what had become of the property and the tax records showed "MLHM CUSTODIAN" as the current owner. When I inquired as to what that meant I received the following response:
"What has occurred is that this property went to a tax deed auction back in May 2003, and no one purchased it at auction resulting in a tax deed being issued to the certificate holder who had applied for the tax deed foreclosure. There is no way to obtain a deed other than purchasing the property from the current owner as once a tax deed occurs all rights to the property are voided."
A couple of weeks ago my mother received a legal document saying "You are notified that an action to quiet title to the following property etc. . . . has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses if any to the attorney for the plaintiff . . ."
I'm assuming that they want the title to the property.
My questions are:
o Does my mother still have rights to this property?
o Is she entitled to ask for monetary compensation in exchange for the deed?
o What happens if we don't respond?
Thank you for your assistance.
I contacted the buyer several times and was told he felt he had already paid more than what the property was worth and was not going to make any more payments toward the mortgage. I also tried to contact the person that he sold the house to, but could not find him. I then contacted an attorney to seek advice and was told the only option was to foreclose on the property. Since the house had burnt down and the lot was not very large and in a poor part of town, we felt that it would cost us more to recover the property and deal with the burnt house than it was worth. The property was abandoned and the city later demolished the house.
A couple of years ago (2004), I searched thru the county tax records to see what had become of the property and the tax records showed "MLHM CUSTODIAN" as the current owner. When I inquired as to what that meant I received the following response:
"What has occurred is that this property went to a tax deed auction back in May 2003, and no one purchased it at auction resulting in a tax deed being issued to the certificate holder who had applied for the tax deed foreclosure. There is no way to obtain a deed other than purchasing the property from the current owner as once a tax deed occurs all rights to the property are voided."
A couple of weeks ago my mother received a legal document saying "You are notified that an action to quiet title to the following property etc. . . . has been filed against you and you are required to serve a copy of your written defenses if any to the attorney for the plaintiff . . ."
I'm assuming that they want the title to the property.
My questions are:
o Does my mother still have rights to this property?
o Is she entitled to ask for monetary compensation in exchange for the deed?
o What happens if we don't respond?
Thank you for your assistance.
