STOP trusting your agent. From experience, she does not work for you. Get a lawyer. Your situation may work out ok, but I am telling, you from experience, the legal nightmares you can get into are crazy. No one cares whose “fault” it is, when you are the one living in the structure that is securing the loan, or the taxes in this case.
Okay, let me get this straight:
(typo corrected)
Sigh.
This is probably futile, as you’ve ignored what I and others have already suggested. But I’ll try again.
-
You need a lawyer. An independent lawyer - one not in anyway connected to, or recommended by, your realtor.
-
You should have had a lawyer at your closing. Why do I say this? Because even though you supposedly have title insurance, someone seems to have seriously dropped the ball at the closing. Did anyone read the title commitment?
Did anyone give any thought to avoiding an off-brand title company tied to the broker? Were all appropriate title exceptions removed at closing?
(Side note: Do you know what “title exceptions” are? I don’t ask this meaning to be obnoxious. Rather, I’m trying to get through to you – beyond your seeming blind trust in your nice broker. If you don’t know, why wasn’t this explained to you? If she didn’t explain, or couldn’t explain, or is not permitted to explain, shouldn’t you have had someone who could?)
- If your* broker was truly looking out for your interests, she would have suggested that you have a lawyer review the documents and otherwise look out for your interests in what is probably the biggest transaction that you ever have been part of. Brokers rarely do this. That’s because want their big commission check as fast as possible - so it’s close at all costs. That’s why it’s dumb to rely on a lawyer, home inspector or other closing-related professional that is recommended by the broker. If those people want to keep getting broker referrals, they might not vigorously protect your interests by looking for and finding problems with the property or the deal.
*So far, I’m not even sure “your” broker is anything of the kind. Legally, she’s likely to be the sub-agent of the seller. (Some states do have a dual agency concept, but even there, she’s not completely loyal to your side.) Unless, of course, you hired and paid for a buyer’s broker – someone you paid, who doesn’t get part of the commission that originates with the seller.
Disclaimer: I’m not your lawyer, and probably not licensed in your state. This isn’t reliable legal advice – see a lawyer licensed in your state for that. Rather, what I’ve said here is a combination of general observations about the need for independant advice and comments about a few things about your closing that seem to warrant further investigation by someone who is (a) on your side and (b) knows what he/she is doing.
Just seconding the GET A LAWYER, NOW sentiment of Random. Title agents can be pretty fly by night outfits, and if the tax lien is significant may not have enough to even recover from.
A thing I wonder: the report of the title insurer should have said that there was an existing lien on the house. Was this stated to you? There certainly have been cases where the title search is never done and you were misled.
Hopefully everything was listed in the closing documents that the past due tax is paid for you, and that this gets taken care of painlessly.
Good luck!