What is a Characteristic Property?

Property tax lien found years after I purchased my property, what can I do?

• I need real estate legal advice. Ref: Hill County, Texas Facts: -I purchased .67 acres (3 lots) of land in Hill County, Texas in June 2008. I paid $20K cash for the land and closed with the sellers title company. The land is owned by my small LLC. -I found out in Jan 2009 that the property had unpaid property, city, and school taxes. Thus I had to pay for it. -June 2010: TxDOT via eminent domain informed me they wanted to buy a very small chunk of my land for road expansion (their portion is valued at $1k). I agreed and I sign the paperwork to qualify for $5k bonus if I sign early. -Jan 2011: I signed a letter of intent to sell my small business which includes the .67 acre property in Hill County. -Feb 2011: TxDOT title investigators found two problems with my deed. (1) Previous owners did not transfer the deed properly to my LLC (one of three lots). (2) Previous owner has a $43K US Government tax lien against the property. -April 2011: The deed transfer issue was recently resolved by the title company, but the tax lien issue has not been resolved. -April 2011: TxDOT informed me that because the land did not transfer to them in a timely manner, that they have no option but to start eminent domain procedures. I lost my land and $6k..! -May 18, 2011: I received a copy of the title insurance policy. It states the policy covers $20K plus legal fees. -The bottom line is prior to closing on this property, the title company failed to uncover: overdue property, school, city, federal tax and deed transfer problems. Now I can't sell my small business and the State of Texas is taking my property at no charge. What if anything can be done to the title company to force them to fix their mistakes plus cover all my financial lost? Way now was the title ins policy mailed to me by the title company?

• Answer:

  Start with the title company, bring up the issues and go from there.