Posted on 04/01/2014 5:49:30 PM PDT by kiryandil
An elderly widow who had fallen behind in her property taxes discovered she longer owned her home after trying to sell it to pay off her debt.
Unbeknown to Hertha Handler, ownership of her $1.2 million Oyster Bay Cove home in Long Island has been transferred to an investor who bought two of the liens against the property.
The 73-year-old widow had lived in the property for more than 40 years but after her husband died several years ago, she slipped behind on taxes and had an outstanding debt of $200,000.
Multiple liens had been made against the property, where Mrs Handler had raised her two sons, but she had no idea ownership had been transferred to investor Albert Kalimian.
By buying just two of the liens from Oyster Bay Cove village for about $3,000 each, Mr Kalimian was able to take possession of the property.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Disability wasn’t mentioned in your original post.
I have a heart,but I also have a brain.I had to downsize.
If I had enough money to donate to you I would have stayed in my home.
It was the sensible thing to do.
.
“Sure I miss my home,but thats life.”
That’s TYRANNY, not life. It is the taking away of life. The labors that paid for that house is your life and they tax your labors again and again. That’s slavery.
Why should we have to?
I recently took over my elderly parents finances - they were behind on everything. It happens all the time.
Yes, it does. Most who have elderly parents face this. I have faced this burden. It is part of life.
What is legal is often unjust and cruel.
In a just society the circumstances of her situation would be reviewed and if she was unaware and having difficulty mentally and/or physically then she would have her property returned and appropriate taxes paid.
The true evil vulture is the slime that most likely knowingly preys on such people.
In Texas you can refuse to pay your property tax and they can’t take it until you sell it or die. That is if you have it “homesteaded”. You will owe the tax but I don’t think they can’t take your homesteaded property for back taxes. Then again, I’m not going to find out.
I’ve been arguing with my mortgage company about tax escrows. In Texas the servicer is allowed to collect 1/12th of the yearly tax bill per month PLUS maintain 1/6th as a cushion. To keep my payments where they are I’m having to pay them $700. At the end of the year there’ll be an overage and they’ll pro-rate it until I get my money back. It’s a bunch of BS.
As I was writing about it upthread, I realized that there's a difference between someone who has their property paid off, and someone who is living the American dream of perpetual indebtedness.
The debt slave is actually causing the taxes of the paid-off person to go up, since he's pulling demand forward. The supposed "value" of an indebted property is not really there. There's incomplete equity, yet the two classes are treated the same.
If both persons (debt slave and paid-off person) have a $100,000 house, and they both fall behind in taxes the exact same amount, and they both lose their houses to the local taxing authority, what is REALLY happening?
The debt slave isn't losing nearly as much as the paid-off person.
The two classes should be treated differently.
Final sentence in Conclusion:
The existing laws should be replaced entirely by a simpler, single enforcement proceeding in which comprehensive notice is provided once, at the commencement of the proceeding, to all interested parties.Many states may still have 'public notice'; I don't think it can be assumed she knew what was happening.
Insofar as 'mailing notices' goes, here's a tidbit on NY Tax Lien Law:
The failure of the commissioner of finance to mail such notice shall not affect the validity of any proceeding brought pursuant to this chapter as to any parcel other than the parcel with respect to which notice was not mailed. d. The commissioner of finance shall cause a copy of such notice to be posted in the office of the commissioner of finance, in the county courthouse of the county in which the property subject to such tax lien is situated and at three other conspicuous places in the borough in which the affected properties are located.We all know how reliable 'mailing' something is. And 'conspicuous place' does not include placing a notice on the door of the property.
Worse:
NY Code - Section 11-411: Presumption of validityDefinitely made me put checking out our local laws here on my list...
It shall not be necessary for the city to plead or prove the various steps, procedures and notices for the assessment and levy of the taxes, assessments or other lawful charges against the parcels set forth in the list of delinquent taxes and all such taxes, assessments or other lawful charges and the lien thereof shall be presumed to be valid. A defendant alleging any jurisdictional defect or invalidity in such taxes, assessments or other lawful charges or in the foreclosure thereof must particularly specify in his or her answer such jurisdictional defect or invalidity and must affirmatively establish such defense. A judgment of foreclosure granted in any proceeding brought pursuant to this chapter, which contains recitals that any acts were done or proceedings had which were necessary to give the court jurisdiction or power to grant such judgment of foreclosure, shall be presumptive evidence that such acts were duly performed or proceedings duly had, if such judgment of foreclosure shall have been duly entered or filed in the office of the clerk of the county in which the proceeding was pending and wherein such judgment was granted. The provisions of this chapter shall apply to and be valid and effective with respect to all defendants even though one or more of them be infants, incompetents, absentees or non-residents of the state of New York.
You're hopeless. Enjoy your chains.
The debt slave is actually causing the taxes of the paid-off person to go up, since he's pulling demand forward. The supposed "value" of an indebted property is not really there. There's incomplete equity, yet the two classes are treated the same.
If both persons (debt slave and paid-off person) have a $100,000 house, and they both fall behind in taxes the exact same amount, and they both lose their houses to the local taxing authority, what is REALLY happening?
The debt slave isn't losing nearly as much as the paid-off person.
The two classes should be treated differently.
Yes. For those who can downsize and get out of debt, that’s a very smart thing to do.
Yes. The debt regime has driven property prices and taxes up.
If someone owed you money and refused to pay, that libertarian crap would go right out your window.
And in the end, that doesn't matter because we all die, meet God, get judged and then get to live in our ETERNAL home--with Him, we hope.
Jeebus. You're not only a happy little slave, they've got you quacking their talking points on cue...
It is a way for the government to get the funds it needs to provide general services such as roads, dams, bridges, etc.
If your local government is not doing its job, maybe it's because it has been starved of revenues. Now you have to wait for the state or the feds to get around to filling the potholes, etc.
Maybe you believe that there should be no taxes at at all. Maybe the only source of revenue for the government should be tariffs. That might make sense on the federal level, it could even maybe be made to work at the state level, but there is no way in hell for it to make sense for cities or towns to make money off tariffs.
Government is a necessary evil. It needs to be lean, but not starved to death. And personally I would rather we overfed our cities rather than our states or the feds.
There’s no way that it could be just for a sleazy investor to acquire a million dollar property from buying a $3,000 tax lien.
These liens are a state sanctioned scam.
One should not ignore tax notices, but equity demands that a fairer means of collecting on such debts be devised. For example, if the widow owns the home outright it could be refinanced to pay off the taxes owed. Letting tax lien vultures scarf homes up for pennies on the dollar is legalized theft.
Said the other slave.
Don't pay it. You'll find out who you're renting from REAL quick.
You're just another happy little slave.
Actually, I've been in business, and have had people refuse to pay money that was owed.
I never had the option to jam a gun in their face and steal their property outright, or start imposing draconian fees which I could use to eat out even more of their substance.
You're a Statist, and a happy little slave.
What are you doing hanging around on a Constitutionalist website? Trolling?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.