My husband and I bought a piece of land in Mississippi, while living
In Washington state. After moving to Mississippi and living on the land
While building, we received a certified letter in the mail stating that
Our land had been auctioned off for back taxes and would no longer be
Ours if we did not pay over two years worth of back taxes, including
Interest and fees, within months. My husband and I did a ton of
Research, only to keep finding dead ends. We have paperwork showing
That we were charged for a title search and title insurance. The big
Dead end was the title insurance company. They went out of business for
Fraud and we cannot find the name of the bonding agency. We contacted a
Lawyer and $385 later, we found that the title had a lien against it and
To top it off had never been filed. We have paid all of the back taxes,
Fees, etc. as we wanted to keep our land, and back taxes have to be paid
Before current years can be paid. We also have received a copy of the
Deed transferred into our names.
And, yesterday, we found out that the land apparently has CC&R's,
Including a HOA. I know this is probably a totally separate issue, but
This information was not disclosed to us by the real estate agent. I am
Told it would have come back with the title search, but although we paid
For one we did not receive any evidence of one being done. The HOA
States the fees have not been paid since 2005, which is way before we
Purchased the property.
My question is, do we have a case? If so, what is our next step? The
Lawyer that I mentioned before, he researched the title for us and told
Us that the title company had filed for bankruptcy. He commented that the
Situation was a mess and gave us a bill for almost four hundred dollars.
He never gave us the answer to our question and we felt like we had
Wasted our money.


Thank you so much for your time.

You hire an attorney, you sue the title company, and who was doing the title search ( was that the title company also ?) The real estate agent should also have reviewed or knew of the title search was done or not. So there may be some eorrors or ommission issues with them also.

It sounds like you have a great case. From what you've said here, you can go after the title company even though they've filed for bk, the seller for fraud, the realtor for lack of disclosure and the town for failing to file and perfect their lien. But you're going to have to see another attorney to get all of this done.

We are having a tough time, financially, and I am sure many can relate. Our big issue is that we need to know if we honestly have a case. We have already spent countless hours and a lot of money trying to make this right. We paid thousands in back taxes, as well as the money to the first lawyer. And, the home owner's association, that we didn't know about, now wants almost $500. We are still trying to sell our house in WA, and build in MS. We don't really have the money to be paying a lawyer unless we know we truly have a case. I should also mention, that the owner of the title company, as well as all of his business partners are currently being sued by multiple banks, realtors, etc. and it has become a federal case to the tune of over $14.5 million. We think this is why the lawyer that we went to did not jump at taking our case.

There is never of course a for sure of winning any case, but you do have a good case, I would look at a real estae attorney, the disclosure issue of the agent and broker is one area, since they all carry insurance for such issues,

But then winning is one thing, if the title company has no money, you win and still dn't get anything

If the title company was bonded then you'd probably be able to collect on the bond. If the seller has any money you'll be able to collect there. If you can prove the realtor didn't do their job then you should be able to collect there.

I'd say you have enough of a case to make it worth paying a real estate attorney for a consultation.