The Quill – October 2017

Quill Tip

Are Tax Foreclosure Sales Insurable???

Well. . .the short answer is maybe.  (While my wife hates this sort of equivocation, I will say that I have been an attorney for almost 30 years and it has always served me well.)  A more precise answer is. . .very, very unlikely.  A Tax Foreclosure is a government taking and the fact of the matter is that we Americans have generally frowned over government takings as far back as. . .I don’t know. . .some time around 1776.  As a government taking, the focus tends to be on Due Process.  We look carefully at the service in the Foreclosure proceeding itself.  If there is good proof in the foreclosure file that the taxpayer was personally served, the chances of us insuring one of these deals starts to become a bit more promising.  By “personally served” I mean that the Tax Payer herself — not her child or her husband or the neighbor — signed for the service.  However, that is rarely the case.  More often than not, the reason the taxes have gone unpaid is because the taxpayer has passed away and the real property is now owned by a bunch of Heirs scattered around the country, many of which do not even know they now own the real property.  The Statute has a provision that indicates that the foreclosure sale is not subject to attack by the taxpayer after one year.  While that is helpful to the analysis, the quality of the service will also be an important consideration.  For many of these Tax Sales, the likelihood is that we will have to wait for the passage of seven (7) years (when we can rely on Color of Title) for us to insure.  Those of you with clients who are interested in buying properties out of a Tax Foreclosure Sale should be discussing this fact with your clients before they bid on the sale.

Where In The World Is The BT Koozie?

The Barrister’s Title koozie was spotted line dancing the night away at Coyote Joe’s with Whitney Tate of Brady & Kosofsky! The BT koozie is proving to have quite the social life! It’s 5 o’clock somewhere

Like our Facebook page to see the other places our BT koozie has been!

Eclipse Glasses

Let us know if you have leftover eclipse glasses and we’ll gladly collect them to send to Astronomers Without Borders!

Email Summer for more information.

Riddle

While some spring forward, I choose to fall back. Come and join me while you sit on a haystack. I may show a movie with a crazed maniac, I will for sure host a festival to give you a heart attack. What am I?

Email your guesses to Summer.

The answer to last month’s riddle was I’ll go around, you go ahead.

Free Educational Webinar brought to you by RELANC!

Many of you know that we at Barrister’s Title are BIG fans of RELANC.  (All of you are highly encouraged to join.)  RELANC is providing a great educational webinar opportunity for real estate practitioners this week about a extremely relevant topic.

Contract to Closing: Protecting Your Clients and their Money from Cyber Fraud 

Details:
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2017
Time: 12:00 PM EDT
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Host(s): Kim Rosenberg

Webinar Description:

In the current environment, real estate brokers, lawyers and your clients are targets for cyber criminals. A diverse panel of real estate professionals will answer FAQ’s about preventative measures to protect your clients and their money from cyber-criminals.

Invite your staff and colleagues, including real estate agents with whom you frequently work, to this critically important and timely lunch-and-learn about protecting your firms and your clients!

About the presenters:

Troy Crawford
Claims Counsel, Lawyers Mutual Liability Insurance Company of North Carolina

Peter Bolac
Trust Account Compliance Counsel and District Bar Liaison, North Carolina State Bar

Janet B. Thoren
Director and Legal Counsel, North Carolina Real Estate Commission

Ashleigh Black, Moderator
Lawyer and Partner, Ragsdale Liggett, PLLC

Click HERE for more details and to register for this online event.

A Blast From The Past:
Childhood Halloween Photos

In anticipation of Halloween we decided to share a few fun childhood pictures from our Sales Team! Be warned. . .some of these pictures are SCARY!  Can you guess who is who!

Head over to our Facebook page to find the answers and give us a like while you’re there!

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