Foreclosures

When a tax bill becomes delinquent, the Tax Office tries various methods to notify the taxpayer and potential owners about the delinquent bill to see if the bill can be collected without the extreme remedy of foreclosure.  The final step in the collection procedure is a pre-foreclosure letter sent by the Tax Office to the last known address of the owner and/or taxpayer.  If these pre-foreclosure methods still fail, the Tax Office instructs the attorneys at Hicks, Preddy & Washburn, PC to commence foreclosure proceedings.

No, paying someone else’s taxes will not entitle you to any legal ownership of the property.

General Statue provides that a party “that cannot with due diligence be served by personal delivery, registered or certified mail, or by a designated delivery service may be served by publication.”   Service by publication consists of publishing a notice of service of process for three successive weeks in a newspaper qualified for legal advertising.  Publication is required to be made only in the county in which the action is pending.

There is no real defense to a property tax foreclosure complaint and lawsuit.  The main purpose of the foreclosure process is to notify all interested parties that any legal interest they may have in the property will be terminated and extinguished if a tax foreclosure sale of the property is completed.  This is because property tax liens are ahead of and superior to all other liens, except (in a limited extent) to filed income tax liens held by the North Carolina Department of Revenue.  When a superior lien is foreclosed, it cuts off all junior liens and ownership rights. 

State law provides that any owner, mortgage holder or defendant in a filed tax foreclosure proceeding can stop the foreclosure process at any time by redeeming the property.  The redemption price is equal to the taxes, interest, fees and costs of the foreclosure proceeding to the date of the redemption.  Parties wishing to redeem property from the tax foreclosure and stop the foreclosure process must contact our office for a redemption payoff amount.  Once the foreclosure property sale has been completed with a confirmation order and delivery of deed, all rights of redemption are terminated.

Bankruptcy proceedings filed by the property owner under federal law can also stop tax foreclosure, but all of the taxes, interest, fees and costs of the action to the date of the bankruptcy filing must be paid as a priority claim in the bankruptcy proceedings.

When the properties are ready for sale, dates and times are posted on the bulletin board in appropriate county Courthouse prior to sale.  They will also be posted on our website.

Foreclosure sales are held at the Courthouse outside of the Clerk of Court’s office.  Sale dates are randomly selected by the foreclosure attorney at our office according to other scheduling needs.

Yes, you can search the title to any parcel up for sale. Hicks, Preddy & Washburn, PC cannot search any of the titles on your behalf or answer title questions before the end of the sales process. It is the duty and responsibility of each bidder to search the title before the sale if a bidder has concerns about the property.

No. We cannot give you any access to the property nor to any building on the property. Entering the property or any structures without consent from the owners may lead to civil and or criminal liability.

A deposit of 5% will be required on the final bid at the time of the auction.  The balance of the bid must be paid at the end of the ten day upset bid period and confirmation of the sale.  The owner of the property being foreclosed retains the right to pay off the foreclosure during the ten day upset bid period.

Any bidder at either public sale or upset bid who doesn’t bring in the purchase price upon demand by the attorney will be subject to loss of all deposits.  All bidders who bid at tax foreclosure sales, either public or upset bid, are required by law to be aware of the penalties for failure to honor their bid.

Anyone can check the status and amount of the current highest bid for any property following the initial auction date. To do so, please call the Clerk’s office for the County in which the property lies to speak with a clerk. Hicks, Preddy & Washburn, PC does not know the status or amount of the current running bid.

For foreclosure sales, a commissioner’s deed will be issued.  Unless otherwise stated in the Notice of Sale, all other liens with the exception of current year taxes, if applicable will be eliminated when the commissioner’s deed has been issued and recorded.