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Buying or Selling a Home/Selling mortgage free home with back taxes

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Question
I have a home that my mother left t me. It is paid for but back taxes of approx. $8,000 is unpaid. Can I pay the back taxes at the closing or do I need to pay the taxes first before putting the house on the market?

Answer
Hi Chris;
If you want to wait to pay off the back taxes at closing out of the proceeds from the sale you should let whomever lists the home and/or the closing attorney be aware of this.  When a title search is done during the escrow period it will be determined that there is a tax lien on the property so it is important that this is disclosed to the Buyer and so they are aware of the plan to pay this lien off before the home records in the new owners' name.  Once you sign papers at closing the attorney will draft a check to pay of the lien and then pay you the remainder of the proceeds.

Best wishes and good luck with the sale.

Sincerely,
Jessica Bryan

Buying or Selling a Home

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Jessica Bryan

Expertise

buying and selling process such as:
General questions from first time buyers
How to market a home
Why choose a REALTOR
How do I find a REALTOR
Should I consider buying or selling without a REALTOR--how much can I save
Should I remodel or move
How much can I expect to gain by fixing up my home before selling
Helpful tips when selling
Helpful tips when buying
finding a good mortgage loan
what is the difference between banks, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokers
Questions from the general public, people thinking about getting their real estate license, newly licensed.
Fellow professionals who have interests in networking and how to get started
What is a market evaluation and how does it differ from an appraisal what are the different loan programs
services a REALTOR can perform
when to use a lawyer
when to use escrow
what are the regional differences in the buying and selling process
what is the MLS and how does it work
how can the layman access information on the web--listings and other information
These are just a few of the questions. I can suggest that if I am unable to answer a question I will refer the inquiry to a source that can.

Experience

Anyone who is in this business and who dedicates oneself to professionalism has continued to take classes and along with it,additional credentials, awards and honors. I can list a host of them, but my greatest accomplishments happen to be those of getting first time buyers (who didn't think they could afford to buy a home)into a home of their dreams. The look on their faces when I hand over the keys is worth all of the hard work.

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