Here’s the scenario: I’m interested in purchasing a 5-year-old “twin home” (duplex) in my neighborhood. I have made offers and received a final counteroffer that I can live with. The unit is in good shape, and of course the offer is contingent upon an inspection.
However, I learned today that the attached unit was sold in a foreclosure process in September. All I can tell from the filing is that Bank of America purchased it for $169,000 and change. I believe the unit is occupied, although I can’t be sure. I did run into the people that lived there a few months ago, when I was walking my dog and their toddler stopped and asked if he could pet her. They seemed like nice people. The yard is a little unkempt, though not overgrown.
But at this point, of course, big alarm bells are going off in my head. The people selling the unit I am interested in will be taking a $32,000 hit from what they paid five years ago, supposedly because the wife got a job on the other side of town, and it’s his house from before they were married. But as my wife put it, “If you wanted to take a $30,000 loss on our house so you could have a better commute, I’d tell you what to go do with yourself.”
Is there any place else I can go to research the circumstances of the foreclosure and find out who owns it or is living there now? I can’t go knock on the door and say, “Hey, I’m thinking of buying the house next door, but I need to make sure you aren’t obnoxious tenants in a house owned by a slumlord first.” Any ideas on how to proceed, or should I just reject the counter and move on?
I would imagine the land titles office(?) would be able to tell you the owner’s name.
Attached or not, there’s a limit to what you can find out about neighbors. do you know for sure if this building was built to noises proofing standards? Does your city have them?
There was a Holmes on Homes episode on TV where noise from the other side of the duplex wall was an issue. After using a fancy sound meter and tearing out half the living room wall, they found the house had a connecting doorway between the units until the late stages of construction (due to cold weather outside, I assume) and when it was closed off the sound insulation was skipped.
You want to go to the County Assessor’s office. Just tell everyone there you want to “research a piece of land.” These are public records, so there’s no reason why you have to explain yourself.
You’ll probably get a very bored counter person’s extended arm, pointing to either a computer terminal or a microfiche machine. To research anything at the Assessor’s office, you need the Assessor’s Parcel Number, or APN. Using the street address, there’s a cross-reference that can give you the APN. If you are lucky, you can do the search on the same machine! Bring a piece of paper and a pencil so you can write the APN down.
Then you can use the APN to look up the property. The Assessor’s office SHOULD have the most current owner on file. For a small fee, you can get a copy of the deed transferring ownership to this individual. You can probably also get a copy of the most recent tax bill.
If the clerk’s are in a good mood, and there isn’t a huge crush of people demanding service, you can explain your situation, and the clerk can help you decipher any documents you do retrieve.
Finding the DATE of the last property ownership transfer would be extremely critical in your situation. (Let us know what you find out!)
~VOW
Don’t be afraid of speaking with the new owners once you’ve tracked down all other info sources. (talk to neighbors, too). Make sure you don’'t lead with negative comments about the neighbor.
First, try to find out about the previous owners/tenant. Did they damage the place, if so, how, and how bad was the damage.
You will probably never be satisfied unless you get your answers before you close. Take your time. There is another house out there for you if this one falls through.
A lot of this info is online too. Depends on the county but if they have a good website, you should be able to get what you need through the assessor (like parcel maps & ownership) and treasurer (tax info & deed info). Your county may have a public trustee that handles foreclosures. In Colorado it is the county treasurer but in some states it is the sheriff.
Go to any local real estate office and ask if they can pull any tax or sale records on the property. They might charge you, but it shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.
Update: I rejected their counteroffer and explained that the foreclosure of the adjoining unit made me very uncomfortable with the purchase. The owner said “Okay, thanks,” and hung up. I think he was aware that the unit next door was empty and foreclosed and was hoping I wouldn’t find out.
I’ve searched the public records I can find through the city and county. The city doesn’t appear to be aware that the unit was foreclosed on; they still list the owner as the original owner, not the bank. I might call Bank of America and see what they can tell me, or see if they would be interested in selling it.
This doesn’t surprise me. I don’t know if it’s due to the volume of foreclosures or some peculiarity in who gets dinged for recording fees, property taxes, etc. but our next door neighbors moved out in Feb 2010 , bank foreclosed in May 2010, house then sold to new owners in January 2011. The state assessors database doesn’t show the bank taking title until a week or so before they sold it to the current owners.
Seriously, put it a little nicer, so you don’t start off on the wrong foot with your (possible) new neighbor, but why not knock on the door and say “Hi! I was just looking at buying the other half of this building, and wanted to see if I could talk to someone about the neighborhood and building.”
What’s the worst that could happen?
Also, how does this ownership of the shared wall work? If this is a condominium type situation, then you have every right to ask about the finances of the condo association, and whether other units are owner occupied or not.