Prattville (mortgage, lawyer, equity)

[Normajo]

Please tell me all the good things & all the bad things (in your opinion) about living in Prattville.
Thank you so very much!

[Figment 07]

Try this thread (you will have to copy and paste) :

http://www.city-data.com/forum/alabama/35185-moving.html

[Normajo]

I went to that link, did not find the answers I wanted.
I hope someone who lives in Prattville reads my questions & will communicate with me.
Have a blessed evening!

[Twostep]

Originally Posted by Normajo

I went to that link, did not find the answers I wanted.
I hope someone who lives in Prattville reads my questions & will communicate with me.
Have a blessed evening!

What do you want to know?

[Normajo]

Twostep, I want to know the same things I asked originally, what do people think are the best & worst things about living in Prattville.
Is there a website that will tell me the AL county homestead exemptions?
I am grateful you told me about the measly $4,000 state exemption.
Thanks.
I hope you will have a blessed weekend!
Norma Jo

[Twostep]

I told you - every county has its own excemption. You can either google or call.

Why do you want to move to AL?

[Normajo]

I wrote on another forum that I called & emailed chambers of commerce & asked them questions.
They were suppossed to get back to me but did not. I also talked to people in courthouses & got either no answers or crazy, untrue answers, such as foreclosurers do not go through the courthouse records.
I plan to move as soon as I find out what I need to know.
Thanks bunches!!!

[nalabama]

Based on a realtor's site I found, property tax millage in Prattville is 28 mills. Sales Tax is 8%. Couldn't find anything on the county homestead exemption.

"...the measly $4,000 state exemption?" Normajo, have you got this all figured out now: i.e., state homestead exemption equals $40,000 of appraised value?

[Twostep]

Originally Posted by Normajo

I wrote on another forum that I called & emailed chambers of commerce & asked them questions.
They were suppossed to get back to me but did not. I also talked to people in courthouses & got either no answers or crazy, untrue answers, such as foreclosurers do not go through the courthouse records.
I plan to move as soon as I find out what I need to know.
Thanks bunches!!!

I do not scoure forums for your posts.

I have never had the slightest issue with a tax assessor's office be it on a personal or professional level. A precise question always brought a straight answer.
Once lis pendens has been filed and redemption period has expired the public sale by lien holder takes place. This is the very basic version. Foreclosure proceedings get filed in steps but are triggered and controlled by the lien holder.

[harry chickpea]

Twostep, remember that AL has a one year right of redemption on foreclosures. Essentially, the mortgage can go into default, the foreclosure and sale on the courthouse steps can occur, and then the homeowner has up to one year to pay the mortgage up to date, along with fees and any improvement costs to the house. This is potential disaster in some instances.

Say that a house worth $100,000 goes into foreclosure after missing three months of $1,000 mortgage payments. The house is sold on the steps for the balance remaining on the mortgage, $25,000 in this example. The new homeowner moves in and invests $10,000 and a lot of sweat equity, and within six months has the house worth $150,000. So far, so good, right?

Now a relative of the original mortgagee drives by and sees the renovated house, and decides he wants it. He goes to the original mortgagee and says "How would you like to make $10,000?" The two sign an agreement, and the relative fronts $25,000 for the outstanding mortgage sale, $2,000 for the lawyer fees, $10,000 for the improvement costs, and $10,000 for the original mortgagee. The original mortgagee then claims "right of redemption" and legally kicks out the new owner, who loses all his sweat equity plus the costs of moving. The old mortgagee then legally sells the home to the relative and pockets the $10,000, while the relative has just purchased an improved $150,000 home, free and clear, for $47,000. The owner who made the repairs and was kicked out has no recourse.

Is this a likely scenario? Probably not, but it is a warning to not spend heavily for the first year after buying foreclosed property. Stuff happens.

Another issue in parts of Alabama is that there are unrecorded deeds. My recent property purchase has three unrecorded deeds on surrounding property, with the potential for conflicting deed descriptions. The 20 year adverse possession law would make this a questionable purchase had not the surveyors been able to find the original fences stuck 20 years or more into trees.

As it was, had I not had the survey done, I would technically have owned a church that was built on an outparcel donated by a previous owner but with no deed recorded! It was quitclaimed as part of my purchase of the land to clear any questions as to how much land had been donated to the church.

Normajo's experience in calling the courthouses makes some sense, and the answers he got were not as crazy as it might seem. I had to foreclose on a property that I had sold to a family. IIRC, the foreclosure proceedings did not involve the courthouse in any significant way until I rebought ownership on the steps of the courthouse and had the new ownership recorded. There was the required letters to the mortgagee, the required advertisement in newspapers, and the transfer of the deed. If the place had been in the hinterlands of a rural county, with an unrecorded deed between private parties, then the whole transaction might have taken place without anyone knowing it but the tax assessor's office. FWIW, the tax maps can be closer to kid's drawings than surveys. It is when the Federal requirements and major mortgage lenders become involved that the i's get dotted and the t's crossed.