Legal: Disposition of Property of Deceased Mother

[VIDEO: "What is parental alienation?"]

Interesting points. Adverse possession requires things i can't do from over 100 miles away. I didn't think to ask if the probate court does anything differently these days beyond publishing on a local paper.

I deposited the check back into my account today. My friend will update me about the auction. I hope he doesn't go over the $30k limit, but he might just to spite me. He can be a controlling SOB, but he's my SOB. If he does that, I'll offer to co-own.

I think a better use of extra cash might be looking into similar properties. This whole exercise got me thinking into taking some risk.

[Turkish]

Interesting points. Adverse possession requires things i can't do from over 100 miles away. I didn't think to ask if the probate court does anything differently these days beyond publishing on a local paper.

I deposited the check back into my account today. My friend will update me about the auction. I hope he doesn't go over the $30k limit, but he might just to spite me. He can be a controlling SOB, but he's my SOB. If he does that, I'll offer to co-own.

I think a better use of extra cash might be looking into similar properties. This whole exercise got me thinking into taking some risk.

[formflier]

Those probate fees got me to looking in the file for what we paid for my Father's estate.

One state had about $300k in value and the court costs and lawyer fees were $1400 and change.

Because of a trust, most of his estate didn't go through probate in the other state...

There was a trust and a will.

I wonder if some of the higher fees quoted were due to lack of a will? 

Best,

FF

[GaGrl]

Turkish, didn't you mention you were interested in Idaho? If you are looking at doing something different, maybe you can look at property there.

[ForeverDad]

Turkish, I can understand your reluctance to risk getting into a complicated inheritance mess with the guy's lost relatives.

I know someone close whose spouse died yet left the home in a standard warranty deed in his name and not a surviving spouse deed.  The guy was a difficult person and despite married for decades never added her to the property's deed even though the home was built with her money.  And of course there's a couple generations of descendants and at least one shifty one.  Local lawyers refuse to deal with the matter, the deceased burned them too many times I guess.  She since remarried.  Her approach is to ignore it.  At some point it may have to be addressed, but not while she's residing there.

I feel you're wise to let the state or county's legal process play out.  Likely their process is to publish notices in several local newspapers.  That protects them and whoever thereafter purchases the properties.  Trying to step in too soon could saddle you with too much long term risk and unpredictable legal struggles.

[Turkish]

FF: could be that, yet this is also California.

GG: I am interested in ID though prices there have skyrocketed due to CA, OR, WA and TX moving there. I'll have my mortgage here paid off in about 9 years, then I can more aggressively save or have room for a land mortgage, say.

I talked to my buddy today. He contacted someone we knew from high school who is a realtor in that county and she said she'd stop by the property to give a guess on the value.

He's talking about co-ownership now, if I'll go up to $30k, he'll match that. 

FD: I'm the only one the county found a a person with interests. If we buy at auction, the property will be effectively "laundered."

The 2 acres and cabin is another deal, but it would be cheaper. I'm still mad (or ashamed) that my mom took $10k from them and never did anything to move that sale forward.

[formflier]

Plus..since the parcels go at different times, you will have an idea of what "the market" is saying about those properties.

That might influence what you do about the second one.

Best,

FF

[Turkish]

A friend from high school is a realtor in that county. She did a drive by for us and estimated $40k as is. That's around what I thought. My buddy reminded me about the septic. I told him I'd only go up to $20k. He was frustrated.

No bids all weekend until 1/2 Hour before it closed today. A nibble of $100 increments... then in the span of a dozen minutes, it was going north of $40k. He was texting me as it happened. My buddy got caught up in the fever and was trying to get me to put up $45k. I was firm. It didn't matter anyway, as the final closing price was about $116,000. Boy will whoever that is be in for a surprise when they actually see it!

But as my buddy thought, cash investors like that probably have their preferred crews ready to go.

[formflier]

How does that affect your view of the other property?

The "market" has valued the property at 116k...for an investor.

That is important because an investor believes they can make money on this.   My guess is they believe the are going to get 150 to 175k for it.  And the probably feel pretty safe doing that.

So...if the property is worth that..let's go even 150k.  What would 5 years of appreciation put on it?  (should be able to get average of last five years from internet)  Cut that in half to be safe.

Then run all this in a spreadsheet and see how much "gap" you have for things to go wrong if you had redeemed it.

Cost of redemption
Cost of taxes over 5 years
Cost of lawyer fees
Cost of probate
$500 per year for insurance
$2 grand per year for maintenance/misc

That should give you a good "basis" cost for the property that you would have in 5 years.

Subtract out the above from 150k plus half of the average appreciate per year in the area for 5 years.  (using half to be on the safe side)

Here is what the investors most likely "know".  They'll get more than 150k for it.  7 out of 10 times.  Maybe 2 out of 10 they will get the 150k or just a bit less, 140k or so.  And 1 out of 10 they have severely miscalculated something and will only get 125k.  

From there they figure out their max bid.  Goal is to make sure you never "loose" money...although on a 125k sale..a CPA is easily going to be able to report a loss for taxes.

Anyway...take the gap and calculations from this property and apply it to the other and see how much gap you have if you redeem it.  

I suspect you will see you have "plenty of room".  

I obviously don't know the details of the property...so I had a round number guess that investors would pay 75 to 100K for it.  

Best,

FF

[Turkish]

A lawyer from a So-Cal firm cold called me last night. It's a good business: keep a eye on tax default auctions and find next of kin. They have access to Lexix-Nexis and such databases. We talked again today.

Basically, they can help me redeem the excess money above the taxes, taking a 25% cut as a fee. He said that they can transfer the property to my mom, then me. He found one of my mom's husband's kids had died in 2018. He couldn't find the others. After a consult with his boss overnight, he said that I could get the whole amount. It goes into a trust for one year, then they send me a check.

I looked up the firm. No reviews, but no complaints either. Been practicing since 2002 and since 1994 except for 2001 when he didn't pay bar association fees.?

[formflier]

Is this for the property that was just auctioned?

Are they proposing to purchase it? 

Unless there is a final sale..I'm scratching my head about how they would determine the amount of the check to send you...and where they would get the funds.

Best,

FF

[Turkish]

In the letter the county sent me, persons of interest may be able to recover the funds in excess of the back taxes. That's $100k in this case. So $75k minus fees. The property sold for about $100k above the taxes.

Another outfit contacted me. They said 20%... then tonight 15% if I chose them. I'd rather have a lawyer involved as a primary contact. Accountability. The cheap outfit only uses lawyers.