Is Purchasing A Home At A Tax Sale Theft? (property tax, properties, sales)

[Consent Withdrawn]

Is it theft to purchase a home that is being sold due to unpaid property taxes if the home is paid for?

[joetownmom]

No but you'd best check your state and local laws. In my state, the original owner has two years to come back and pay the taxes, thus regaining the property and the new owner - who bought it at a tax sale - has to surrender it.

THAT seems more like the theft to me!

[Consent Withdrawn]

Originally Posted by joetownmom

No but you'd best check your state and local laws. In my state, the original owner has two years to come back and pay the taxes, thus regaining the property and the new owner - who bought it at a tax sale - has to surrender it.

THAT seems more like the theft to me!

But isn't the original owner just taking back what was already his/hers to begin with? Remember this is a home that is paid for, not still in a mortgage.

[Mercury Cougar]

Originally Posted by joetownmom

No but you'd best check your state and local laws. In my state, the original owner has two years to come back and pay the taxes, thus regaining the property and the new owner - who bought it at a tax sale - has to surrender it.

THAT seems more like the theft to me!

I think you're mistaken. I don't think they just have to pay the taxes, the person who purchased the home at the tax sale gets a profit over the amount of the taxes paid. Not sure what it is, but there's a percentage in it for the buyer either way. Nobody really loses.

[chet everett]

The number of properties that are not redeemed following a tax sale are a TINY fraction. The "return on investment" that one gets doing this is peanuts.

It is certainly NOT theft, it is a HIGHLY efficient method for the taxing bodies to stay solvent AND keep most properties owned by someone that will try to profit from them. There are theoretical problems that could crop up if HUGE numbers of people staged a tax rebellion and practical problems that exist in small numbers of highly distressed neighborhoods when even the most optimistic investor is unable to make a profit from a terribly run down property. In such cases the governmental units can condemn the property and resale / redevelop it on a larger scale...

[texdav]

Of course not the person had the opportunity to pay the taxes.

[Consent Withdrawn]

I am amazed at the number of respondents so far who do not believe it is theft to buy a property at a tax sale. I imagine it is not being thought through deeply enough. Perhaps a scenario will help to enlighten. Consider a property that has been in a family for generations and has long been paid for. The owners come under hard times; perhaps serious health issues. Maybe the situation becomes so dire that it comes to the point of paying property taxes or paying for medication. In this case certainly care for heath issues take precedence over taxes. While I’m certain that scenarios like this are perhaps the exception and not the rule, they do exist none the less.

But dare I say that even without taking the above scenario or similar ones into consideration, I would still believe that buying a property at a tax sale would mean buying stolen property. I say this because the property was owned by the individual who failed to pay property taxes and was stolen by the taxing body. This is no different in my mind than purchasing a “hot” stereo or car. It is stolen property plain and simple. Perhaps my moral sensibilities are just more finely honed than those of the respondents thus far. Or perhaps, and more likely, they just hadn’t thought the issue through as deeply.

[Dark of the Moon]

This forum is for discussing issues surrounding mortgages, not tax sales. Please take that discussion to the appropriate forum (Personal Finance, Politics & Other Controversies, Great Debates).

Thanks.