Tag Archives: Property Taxes

New Jersey residents pay the most property taxes in the nation, according to a report released by WalletHub this morning. The 2017 Property Taxes by State Report revealed that New Jersey ($4,189 on a $179,000 home), Illinois ($4,105), New Hampshire ...

The California real estate market continued to experience rising home prices and strong sales in July, but negative equity still remains a significant challenge, according to a report from PropertyRadar. Out of the 6.8 million California homeowners with a mortgage, 26 percent, or 1.8 million, were underwater as of July. Another 500,000 are barely managing to stay above water, with no more than 10 percent of equity in their home. This means about one third, or 2.3 million homeowners, are still unable to sell due to lack of equity.

According to a report from NCLC, laws in many states allow local governments to sell property through a tax lien foreclosure process if the owner falls behind on property taxes. A tax lien may be started over nonpayment of a small delinquent tax bill and then sold at a tax lien sale for the back taxes owed on the property. If the homeowner fails to buy back the property, the purchaser may acquire the home for very little and then resell it for a huge profit.

After filing false liens against four federal government officials, a Washington state man was sentences to 41 months in prison Monday, the Justice Department and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced. Ronald James Davenport of Chewelah, Washington filed more than $20 billion in false liens on properties of a U.S. attorney and the court clerk of the Eastern District of Washington, an assistant attorney, and an IRS revenue officer, according to the evidence presented at trial in December 2009.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is looking to propose a rule to standardize monthly mortgage statements to make them easier for customers to understand. The CFPB recently released an early draft of a statement and is seeking feedback. Once a refined prototype is available, the CFPB said it will propose a rule to specify what needs to be on statements, but creditors, assignees, and servicers will have some flexibility to tweak the form after final publication of the rule.

NextAce Corp., Orange, California, unveiled SearchQ, a solution that provides immediate retrieval of property ownership from the company's Web site. SearxhQ provides users with details on property ownership on the latest deed and all ownership changes for up to 10 years; outstanding debt, including mortgages, assignments, foreclosure activity, and voluntary and involuntary liens; taxes, including current year taxes and payment information in many counties; current vesting information and an abbreviated legal description for the property.

Michigan's Oakland and Ingram Counties have filed lawsuits against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alleging the GSEs avoided paying the state property-transfer tax on thousands of REO homes by claiming false exemptions. Oakland County says there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of deeds recorded by Fannie and Freddie where they claimed exemptions. Officials maintain the exemptions cost Oakland County at least $250,000 per year.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) aims to assist senior borrowers with its newly released guidance on reverse mortgages, or the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program. According to the federal agency, some elderly homeowners are struggling with outstanding property taxes and unpaid hazard insurance premiums. Those who neglect to pay these expenses may face foreclosure, even in instances where the homeowner's mortgage is paid in full.

The Wayne County Treasurer in Michigan concluded its September online auction of tax-foreclosed properties by generating more than $4.1 million in tax revenue for the county, an increase of more than 600 percent from last year's live, on site auction. The treasurer tapped Bid4Assets.com to conduct its first online auction due to the record number of tax foreclosed properties available.

The Office of the Wayne County Treasurer in Michigan will conduct its first Internet auction of more than 13,000 tax foreclosed properties September 17-23. Bid4Assets.com will perform the online auction. The auctioned properties represent a 44 percent increase over the number of properties seized by the county in 2009, making it the largest auction ever for Wayne County.