Hi, I’m Beth with TB Properties Buys Land. Can you sell your rural vacant land if you still owe property taxes on it?
Absolutely!
If you own 10 plus acres of vacant land and you still owe property taxes on that, don’t let that stop you from being able to sell your land directly to a real estate investor, like TB Properties Buys Land. We buy land from people all over the country. Some people owe back taxes and that’s prohibited them from being able to sell their property with a real estate agent or a realtor. Even if that has been the case for you, that’s something that we at TB Properties Buys Land can work through. But please tell us upfront because we’re going to find out anyway. Here at TB Properties Buys Land, we always close through a title company that is licensed to close in the county where your property is located. When they do their title search, they’re going to find that you have back taxes when it comes to property taxes so please tell us ahead of time.
That is one of things they will discover in their Title search and they will alert both you as the seller and we as the buyer to their findings. That allows us upfront to be able to understand what money you’ll be getting back when it comes to selling your property. Now TB Properties Buys Land, when we make an agreement with land sellers, we always say that we’re going to cover all closing costs. We spell that out very clearly and very directly in our purchase agreement. We say that we, as the buyer, will pay for the buyer and the seller escrow fees. Those are the fees that go to the title company. We mention that we’re going to cover title insurance, the recording fees, and any excise or transfer taxes.
Now for you as a seller, the only thing that we say that you are going to pay for when it comes to closing costs are any liens against your property. And for us, I’m not going to beat around the bush; this is a “cover your butt” part in our contract. That means that if you do owe property taxes, that those will be coming out of your disbursement. You will be paying for those back taxes out of what we’re funding for the transaction. I hope that’s clear. We do spell that out very clearly in our contract and that’s the only thing that you would be covering if you have back taxes or a lien against your property, but everything else we cover when it comes to closing costs. Again, if you don’t have any back taxes, you don’t have to worry about that. The dollar value that we quote you is what you’re going to come home with. However, if you do owe property taxes, that will be deducted from what we say that we’re going to pay you when it comes to closing costs.
Furthermore, the title company will provide a great breakdown of everything in their HUD statement that they provide to both you as the seller and we as the buyer. It delineates that really well and is very easily to understand. Now if that’s something that you want to negotiate, sometimes we can negotiate covering your property taxes. If have a mortgage on the property, or if there are other liens, those will be discovered by the title company as well and those will come out.
If you have any questions specifically about whether you can sell your property, if you’ve got back taxes, what those back taxes look like, or other liens, feel free to reach out to us. We’re happy to answer any questions that you might have. Again, here at TB Properties Buys Land, we always close through a title company. The biggest reason is that protects you and it protects us. You know that when closing through a title company that we can’t write a check that’s going to bounce when buying your property. They don’t take personal checks. They’re going to require that we pay with a certified check that comes directly from the bank or from wired funds. We also know that they’re going to do any kind of title searches and that we’re going to be protected on our end as well. It’s just a safer way to do business. With that said, we look forward to you reaching out to us so that we can answer any questions you might have. Thanks again.