Is a Home With a Municipal Lien On It Still Worth Buying?

One of the quickest ways to scare an investor off when they’re thinking about buying a home and flipping it is to tell them that the home has a municipal lien on it. Most investors don’t want to deal with the headaches, not to mention the expenses, that come along with municipal liens. Nevertheless, if you’re considering buying a home with a municipal lien on it, there are some instances in which it would make total sense to do it.

Municipal liens are often placed on properties that have been neglected for long periods of time. Tall grass in the front yard, broken windows in a home, and piles of garbage on the side of a house can all lead to municipal liens. A town or city will start fining a homeowner hundreds of dollars every day because of one or all these things, and before long, there is a municipal lien on the property that will cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars to remove.

One thing many investors don’t realize, though, is that most cities and towns are willing to negotiate when it comes to eliminating liens. There have been situations in the past where investors have successfully negotiated $250,000 in liens all the way down to just $1,250. Not all cities and towns will negotiate on liens with investors, but many of them will if it means that the investor is going to buy a property and bring it back to life. Therefore, it never hurts for an investor to ask a city or town if they would be up for negotiating a lien.

Before you can begin the process of negotiating a lien, you’ll need to conduct a municipal lien search to see if a home has a lien on it and to find out what that lien stems from. Reliable Lien Search can help you run a search and let you know about any liens on a property. Call us at 954-447-6947 today to get started.

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