Ask Me Help Desk - Foreclosure in Alabama

I have a unusual situation.

I owned about a acre of land in Alabama. ( there is no house or building on property) I sold it a few years ago and held the mortgage on it.
I got a good size down payment and they paid on time for a year, then started paying late the next year. At this point there has been no payment for over 6 months.

I would have done something sooner but have not really had the time and the property was not going anywhere.

I went over to the courthouse last week and have a strange problem

The new owner combined several deeds into one deed. So now there is only one deed of 40 acres that contains my one acre, the deed is filed on my acre. There are no other mortgages or liens on any of the 40 acres except for my lien.

So is my lien now on the entire 40 acres, since the new owner combined many individual parcels into one parcel, or is it still just on the one parcel even though there is no individual deed on that one acre.

I am preparing for the foreclosure sale ( it is a non court state) so I merely have to notify the buyer, and post it in the newspaper for three weeks, prior to the sale.

And of course I don't expect to actually sell it, seldom does anyone pay the lien amount and it goes back to the lien holder, so I expect to take it back. *** I hope I don't.

But how do I deed a piece of property that is no longer deeded as that one acre, since the new deed that contains my one area is 40 acres

Your only choice is to go with what you have. If the lien is on the property as deeded. Then that is how it will be applied. What Im wondering is why you weren't notified when the title was affected? You should have received notice. What does the tax records say? Is it actually deeded as 40 acres now? Was a survey done?

He bought I believe 6 properties all with different deeds. He basically then did a new deed that combined all 6 into on large plot.

So there was a quitclaim deed done to his self from his self
They were going to build a mini mall with a hotel there and needed it ( it appears) to be one large plot to contain all of this, since buildings would be , if ever built across various properties.

They graded a lot of the property and put in a large road drive way. But then it went bust and operation has been shut down. So all that exists now is a road to no where and a sign that is offering industrial area for sale.

I don't think they could legally do the combining of the properties, but think small "hick" town in Alabama where only one person at the court house can even read the county maps by section and plot number.

Plus the liens are recorded in probate office not in the property office. So while there is suppose to be a check, obviously in the confussion of combining several deeds no one caught it.

The recorder of deeds does not even show my small plot, merely the one large plot. I had to go back to the older maps to show the location of my one plot.

I guess my wishful thinking ( or greed) that though their somewhat improper act since there is only one deed now, the lien would have attached itself to the entire plot now

As for as the tax payments, it is all on one bill, it has been combined completely and for two years now, the bill shows only one plot of 40 acres.
Taxes are up to date.

I guess this can fall under the heading of "improvements". When you own property that is a chance you take. That they don't destroy what you have. On the other hand if they had built a mansion on it then you still foreclose on the entire thing anyway. So your debt is valid and traceable. Go for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

....
So is my lien now on the entire 40 acres, since the new owner combined many individual parcels into one parcel, or is it still just on the one parcel even though there is no individual deed on that one acre.
...
But how do I deed a piece of property that is no longer deeded as that one acre, since the new deed that contains my one area is 40 acres

Your lien is on the one parcel it was always on, sorry.

It's incorrect use of language to say that the land is "no longer deeded". At one time you received a deed to the property to which the lien applies. That deed is still a legally valid instrument despite subsequent deeds.

For what it's worth, the buyer's attempt to combine your property with others may very well be a violation of your mortgage, if you read the fine print.

If you do have to go through with the sale, you would give the buyer a deed to the original parcel. And at that time someone, you or the buyer, should notify the taxing authorities to change their map and files.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

...
They were going to build a mini mall with a hotel there and needed it ( it appears) to be one large plot ...

If the local planning authority approved this plan, someone dropped the ball. They should have required you to sign off in the plan before it was approved.

Out of city limits no building inspector that I am aware of, there is a county code enforcement ( one part time man for entire county, but he is more grass too tall and so on)

On the positive side, my property is the road frontage, without my acre they don't have the frontage to the road.
But I will be watching the rest of it for the tax sale, figure it will go unpaid at this point.

I even called the number offering it for sale, no one answered or called back, I was thinking about offering them about 10 cents on the dollar of what they paid. We did re-file the lien again, so there is no doubt that this new parcel contains my parcel with a lien. Since the new parcel has a different parcel number there is no "link" that is easy to trace in their system recorded the current way.

But I am going to finish the foreclosure in about 8 week,
** having some surgery next week, so will be off my game for a couple weeks. ( and may have some real intersting answers for a few days)

I was really hoping when I drove over there that they had actually built something there. But I guess I will own a nice "for sale" sign