Frequently Asked Questions about Tax Deed Certifications

Thank you for your interest in Tax Title Services. The following "questions and answers" should answer the vast majority of your questions regarding Tax Title Services and the services we provide. If after reading thru this information you need further information or would like to begin a relationship with Tax Title Services, please feel free to contact us.


TELL ME ABOUT YOUR COMPANY and WHAT DO YOU DO?
The name of our company is Tax Title Services and our objective is to obtain title insurance for tax deed properties. We provide nationwide Foreclosure Due Process Certifications in order to ultimately issue title insurance by a national title insurer for the sale and or mortgaging of tax deed properties. The certification is a faster & normally cheaper process of certifying the accuracy and completeness of the tax lien foreclosure due process which in turn eliminates the need for the current industry practice of obtaining a quiet title action or waiting out statute of limitation period.

HOW LONG HAS TAX TITLE SERVICES BEEN IN BUSINESS?
Tax Title Services has been in business since July 2000.

WHAT IS THE FORECLOSURE DUE PROCESS CERTIFICATION?
The Foreclosure Due Process Certification is the process of certifying the accuracy and completeness of the tax lien foreclosure due process in order to ultimately issue title insurance (by a large national title insurer) for the sale and/or mortgaging of tax deed properties.

WHAT IS THE POST-FORECLOSURE "DUE PROCESS" REVIEW?
The post foreclosure "due process" review is the process of evaluating and comparing the foreclosure title report (search) to the insurable title report (search) ordered by Tax Title Services and verifying all the required notifications have been sent and have proof of being sent.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE FOR TAX TITLE SERVIES TO APPROVE MY PROPERTY TO OBTAIN TITLE INSURANCE?
Once Tax Title Services receives a new file, the typical property that has all the necessary documentation will receive a Due Process Certification in 45-60 days. Delays can occur if Tax Title Services has to ask for additional information or if difficult curative issues are present.

WHAT STATES ARE YOU CURRENTLY ABLE TO OBTAIN TITLE INSURANCE ON TAX DEED PROPERTIES?
Current active states include:
AL, AR, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, IN, LA, MD, MI, MO, MS, NY, OK , SC, TN, TX, & WV
Other states can be added based on your needs and number of properties available for service.

IS TAX TITLE SERVICES WILLING TO ADD ANY ADDITIONAL STATES IN THE FUTURE?
Other states can be added based on your needs and the number of properties available for service in that state. If you have other states you would like us to develop our certification service for, we would need a few test files to use for the 2-3 month development process with the title underwriters. Once the initial development of that state is completed, our normal 45-60 day average turnaround times would apply.

WE HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET TITLE INSURANCE FOR TAX DEEDED PROPERTIES FOR YEARS, HOW IS IT THAT TAX TITLE SERVICES CAN GET US TITLE INSURANCE WHEN NOBODY ELSE COULD?
Our company president, Dave Schumacher, was a title officer & Asst. Vice President for First American Title in their default division for 8 years. This experience gave him the understanding and trust necessary for First American Title to take a chance on this program after years of never issuing title insurance on tax deeded properties without a quiet title action. After 3 ? years of being in business, Tax Title Services is proud to say we are the only company in the nation able to obtain title insurance without a quiet title action. We have also been able to add 2 additional national title insurance underwriters for this revolutionary program.

WHICH TITLE UNDERWRITER IS WILLING TO ISSUE TITLE INSURANCE AFTER TAX TITLE SERVICES ISSUES A FORECLOSURE DUE PROCESS CERTIFICATION?
Tax Title Services started this program with First American Title Insurance Company. We have subsequently added 2 additional national Title Underwriters for this program for a total of 3 now issuing title insurance on tax deeded properties.

DO I NEED TO GET FORECLOSURE DUE PROCESS CERTIFICATION TO GET TITLE INSURANCE FOR MY TAX DEED PROPERTY?
In order to get insurable title you have two choices. You can hire an attorney to conduct a quiet title action for many thousands of dollars and spend many months performing the action whereby the court validates the tax sale. The other option is using Tax Title Services faster and less expensive alternative whereby the need for a quiet title action is eliminated. We issue a Certification which validates the tax sale to our program title underwriters in lieu of quiet title action.

HOW MUCH DO YOUR SERVICES COST?
Fees to open a new file with Tax Title Services are as follows:
$750 (covers title search fee, review fee and hard costs….remaining balance will be applied towards certification fee)

Hard costs are as follows:

Property inspections  - $35
Good Faith Investigations  - $50/each
County Tax Sale File -  Varies

FedEx  -  $20

Once the file has been cleared to issue a Foreclosure Due Process Certification, our standard certification fee ranges from $750 to $1500+ depending on the value of the property & any applicable discounts (higher liability properties may have a higher fee). Tax Title Services has a variable fee structure for the Foreclosure Due Process Certification that gives discounts for lower value properties (normally vacant land) and give discounts for volume. Prices for values of properties are at $25,000 intervals and volume discounts are normally at 15 new files per quarter intervals. A discount may also be given for older tax deeds.

(Example: A Foreclosure Due Process Certification with a property value of $25,000 with no volume discount is $750, $200 examination fee, $250 title search fee, and miscellaneous hard costs) Compared to a quiet title action cost of $1,500 to $5,000 and time of 4 to 12 months to complete the action, our fees are less expensive and much faster.

ARE THERE ANY COMPANIES OTHER THAN TAX TITLE SERVICES ABLE TO OBTAIN TITLE INSURANCE FOR TAX DEEDED PROPERTIES WITHOUT A QUIET TITLE ACTION?
It is our understanding that Tax Title Services is the only company in the country performing this service.

WHAT KIND OF GUARANTEES CAN YOU GIVE US TAX TITLE SERVICES CAN OBTAIN TITLE INSURANCE ON TAX DEED PROPERTIES?
Tax Title Services can't guarantee a specific property can get title insurance, but if the foreclosure due process was done complete and accurate with the risk of challenge minimized and the tax deed holder confirming actual possession of the property, Tax Title Services will issue a Due Process Certification. Once a certification has been issued, we have never been refused title insurance by our 3 national title insurers (unless there are other non-foreclosure related title issues). If Tax Title Services issues a certification for your property and you are unable to get title insurance due to the property being acquired by a tax deed, there will be no charge for the services performed by Tax Title's Services.

BY USING THIS PROGRAM, WOULD THERE BE ANY ISSUES OF INSURING THE TAX DEED PROPERTY IN THE FUTURE?
No, the three national title underwriters we use in this program consider this as insurable title with marketability defined as the insuring title underwriter's willingness to insure the property in the future if other underwriters are unwilling to insure a tax deed property.

WHAT IF I ACQUIRED MY TAX DEED PROPERTY AND THE PROOF OF THE NOTICES FOR DUE PROCESSING IS INCOMPLETE, CAN I STILL GET TITLE INSURANCE THROUGH YOUR PROGRAM?
Yes, if after the due process review by Tax Title Services, it is discovered that all the statutory requirements have not been met, Tax Title Services will identify any title-related defects affecting the insurability of the property and recommend and effect appropriate title underwriter approved corrective action necessary to insure title ("title curing"). In some cases, Tax Title Services is unable to "cure" the due process deficiencies and a quiet title action may be required to obtain title insurance. To date, in those instances where Tax Title Services was unable to "cure" defects in the tax foreclosure process, Tax Title Services has normally mediated a buy-back or some other type of workout with an affected party where the tax deed holder received their investment back plus costs & interest to date with a premium profit. This is the same result had the tax deed holder filed a quiet title action and the affected party defendant contested offering a settlement but done faster, cheaper and more friendly by Tax Title Services.

IS OBTAINING TITLE INSURANCE IMPORTANT FOR TAX DEEDED PROPERTIES?
Yes, very important. A big benefit of title insurance is that prospective buyers can buy your property with lender funds. Banks will not lend money on a property without title insurance. If title insurance does not come with your property, the market value of the property is decreased and you limit the number of potential buyers of that property (decrease in sales price and increase in marketing time). With title insurance, any qualified buyer can get a loan and purchase the property for full market value.

IS THERE ANY WAY TO DO AN EVALUATION OF A PARTICULAR PROPERTY BEFORE PURCHASING IT TO DETERMINE IF TITLE INSURANCE CAN BE OBTAINED?
Yes, but except for non-typical circumstances, it would be cost prohibitive. We can go through our certification review before the sale but if you are not the winning bidder, you will be out the prepaid $450 to place the order with Tax Title Services.

CAN TAX TITLE SERVICES GET INSURANCE ON ALL TAX DEEDED PROPERTIES?
No, although this is uncommon. If there is massive failure in the tax sale process, your property may not be able to be certified or "cured" satisfactorily to receive title insurance through our Certification Process. In this instance, a quiet title action will be required to obtain title insurance. If this occurs, all you pay is the review fee ($200) and title search fee ($250; $360 in CA) plus hard costs. The insurable title search is then sent to your attorney to use for a quiet title action, which the attorney needs to conduct the quiet title action (no double costs of title search). Again to date, in those instances where Tax Title Services was unable to certify, Tax Title Services has normally mediated a buy-back or some other type of workout with a tax foreclosure affected party where the tax deed holder received their investment back plus costs and interest to date and a premium profit. This is the same result had the tax deed holder filed a quiet title action and the affected party defendant contested offering a settlement but done faster, cheaper and more friendly by Tax Title Services.

DOES TAX TITLE SERVICES HELP ME IN CLOSING THE TRANSACTION AFTER THE PROPERTY IS UNDER CONTRACT TO SELL?
Once you have marketed the property and have a buyer under contract, we will send the Original Certification and insurable title search to the Direct Title Underwriter Office or their Title Agent closing office. We then advise you of the contact information for the closing office for you or your realtor to deliver the original purchase agreement and any earnest money deposit. If any title related questions or concerns arise during the transaction, Tax Title Services will help to resolve the issues in order to close the transaction.

DOES TAX TITLE SERVICES HAVE ERRORS AND OMISSIONS INSURANCE?
Tax Title Services is a strong believer in Errors and Omissions insurance and has an active E & O policy. Additionally, we require all our vendors to have Errors and Omissions coverage.

HOW DO I BEGIN THE PROCESS OF INITIATING A NEW FILE WITH TAX TITLE SERVICES?
To place an order, fill out our order form (on web site) and send it or fax it to our office along with the tax deed, and any resale purchase agreement. Additionally, you must include the prepaid $750. Upon receipt of the information and the prepaid fee, we will begin processing the certification order. Our average certification turnaround time from the receipt of a new file is 30-45 days depending on potential curative issues we would need to address from the tax foreclosure. Upon completion of our process we will invoice our certification fee plus any miscellaneous costs such as Fed Ex, Airborne, inspections, good faith investigations, etc. Upon payment of our invoice (can be paid through closing if there is a current resale in process), we will then forward our certification package to our local program title underwriter(s) direct office or agent office for the title insurance issuance.
 

Link for more information please go to Tax Title Service's Website

Investing in Tax Deeds Main Page

FL Statutes Chapter 197:Tax Collections, Sales, and Liens

Link to Florida's County Clerk's Offices, Property Appraisers & Tax Collectors

Notable Case regarding Notification of Owners

National Association of Counties

Tax Title Certification as a Substitute for Quiet Titles

Capital Loss Flier

Tax Deed Property Analysis Sheet

Attorneys who specialize in Tax Deeds & Quiet Title Actions

       Mr. Frazier is available to answer any questions you might have.  Please call their office and speak to him or his assistant Terri.  They are expecting to get a few calls from my class.  Just tell them that you heard about him through Sandra Edmond of Ardnas, Inc and he'd be glad to give you any information you might need.   Frazier has an office in Flagler County but you want to call the office in Jacksonville to talk to him directly.  He has done Quiet Title Actions in North Florida as well as Central Florida, and other Florida counties.

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