Tax Liens and Foreclosures in Baltimore Maryland
Understanding Tax Lien Foreclosure
As a homeowner in Baltimore MD, when you are unable to pay up property tax liabilities and other government income taxes, your property would be put up for sale in Baltimore MD. When this happens, a Baltimore tax lien foreclosure is said to have taken place. Before this action is taken, the relevant authority places a statutory lien against your property and in a situation where you make no moves to offset the accrued debt (federal/state income, self-employment, estate taxes etc), the affected government would then move in to repossess such property. This is done in a bid to recover most or all of the debt owed to the given government. So, if you have been struggling with paying your taxes or completely unable to do so, you stand the risk of having your property foreclosed.
If this is the situation you have found yourself in, please keep in mind that we buy houses in foreclosure in Baltimore MD. There are a couple thingsyou should know a few things about tax lien foreclosures. For example, you should be able to understand if the Baltimore tax lien is against a given Baltimore property or if it is a general lien against all your property. If the lien is related to special assessments and property taxes only, then it might just be against a specific property. In a situation where the lien is related to federal or state income taxes, then it might end up affecting most or all of your Baltimore property. Knowing where you really stand is the first step towards dealing with tax lien foreclosures.
You should also know that when you default in paying your taxes and your property is foreclosed, that the prevailing tax laws would not allow you, being the former owner of the property and defaulter, to bid at the auctioning of such property. Yes, that is how it works. At the stage where the lien becomes delinquent, Baltimore county is subsequently authorized to carry out sales of the affected Baltimore tax liens at Baltimore public auctions. Should you still be interested in the Baltimore MD property, you are given six months from the date of the auction to reimburse the home buyer the total amount spent on the repurchase, including interest.
When you fail to recover your auctioned Baltimore property from the tax sale purchaser after a period of six months, he or she is entitled to file a complaint in court. When this is done, your right as the original owner of the property and right of redemption are foreclosed. At the end of the day, the tax sale purchaser, who might be one of those who have made it clear that the Baltimore MD property, will be issued a deed duly signed by the tax collecting authority and automatically, becomes the new property owner. More so, the Baltimore tax sale purchaser is required by law to clear all the municipal liens and taxes accrued over time, beginning from the date of such tax sale. This is along with the outstanding bid price balance. This is how Baltimore tax liens foreclosures work and with all these requirements met by the potential buyer, you lose ownership of your Baltimore property.
It is also important to note that Baltimore the tax sale procedures that land your property in the hands of Baltimore City in comparing Baltimore City to the county. When the auction sales are being carried out in the city, potential purchasers might be required to pay a high bid premium which is usually not less than 20% of the total bid amount on property whose bid exceeds 40% of its full cash value. If for example, a Baltimore house is valued at $200,000 and it has bid in excess of $80,000, then a 20% high bid premium will apply to that given bid. While the Baltimore purchaser is not entitled to any interest on the high bid premium, a full refund of the premium is made on any of the two conditions: If the purchaser succeeds in foreclosing the property owner’s rights of redemption or if the owner is able to redeem his or her property. The interest rate in Baltimore city is kept at 18% per year.
Before any Baltimore tax sale auction is held in the Baltimore City, a schedule is made. For those active Baltimore MD agents or buyers who are willing to take part in the auctions, registration is required with a refundable fee of $200. It is a different ball game in county tax sales. There is nothing like high bid premium as it applies to city tax sales. Also, the annual redemption interest rate is lower at 12%. While registration is mandatory for potential bidders, there are no fees attached to it unlike registration for Baltimore City tax sales. This means that if you are unfortunate enough to have your Baltimore property foreclosed, the location of its tax sale and the amount for which it was sold would go a long way to determine how much you should expect to reimburse the tax sale purchaser.
If the foreclosed property was sold at a county auction in Baltimore MD, then you should expect a lower interest rate to be paid in a given year. If however, it was sold in the Baltimore City tax sales, then the interest rate would be higher. It even gets higher if the tax sales purchaser paid a high bid premium. For those who are interested in purchasing one or more properties at city or Baltimore county tax sales, it requires having a good knowledge of how the processes work and how to identify a good property. If you fall into any of these categories and are in need of further guidance, then the experts in the field are more than willing to guide you through the process of Baltimore tax lien foreclosure, whether it is for your personal house or an inherited house. Ask for help and you will surely get it, right here at House Cash Now!
