Your Tax Foreclosure Professionals
Mortgage-Style Tax Foreclosures
Zacchaeus Legal Services has foreclosed on thousands of parcels with remarkable results, both in terms of amounts collected and low cost. Zacchaeus is the statewide leader in providing this service to counties, cities, and towns. We have built our reputation on our work with the mortgage-style process. It allows your unit of local government a reasonable attorney fee as part of the court costs of the action, which are collected along with the property taxes to redeem (stop) the parcel from foreclosure or as part of the purchase price at the foreclosure sale. The overwhelming majority of parcels that require enforced collections are suitable for mortgage-style foreclosure, thereby greatly reducing the costs of this service. After all, if the attorney fees are paid as part of the proceeding by the parcel owner or high bidder at the tax foreclosure sale, they are not paid by your unit of local government or its taxpayers that keep their taxes current.
In Rem Tax Foreclosures
Zacchaeus is the only statewide provider of mortgage-style foreclosure that also offers in rem tax foreclosure services. Why? Two words – complete coverage. A small but significant percentage of the parcels that warrant enforced collections do not fit the profile for a mortgage-style tax foreclosure. These parcels typically involve relatively low values and high-party numbers in the title, which means higher costs if processed in the mortgage-style setting. But if collections are not enforced, these parcels accrue many years of delinquent taxes which drag down the property tax collection rate and which are often written off after ten years. Oftentimes these parcels are not maintained, causing neighbors concern. If actions are taken to maintain the parcel or demolish unsafe structures, nuisance and demolition assessment liens attach, making the parcel further “upside down” in terms of its fair market value as compared to the liens against it. While the in rem process does not allow an attorney fee to be added to the amount of the court costs, it does provide for an administrative fee ($250) and all mail and publication costs to be included in the amount required to redeem (stop) the foreclosure or as a part of the sales price. Its summary nature allows us to handle larger numbers of parties for less overall attorney’s fees. This results in processing this small subset of parcels until they are sold. New owners are more likely to thereafter maintain these parcels and pay the property taxes. Years worth of taxes stop rolling off the scrolls due to the statute of limitations, parcels are kept up, taxes are paid routinely, and entire neighborhoods improve!