Real Estate

I bought my condo in June 2007 and paid pro-rated taxes for that year based on the building which was a new conversion. I asked my agent about taxes for 2008 and was told the city would need to reassess the building as 3 units instead of single family and they were notorious for taking a year or more to do reassessments. My mortgage company doesn’t escrow so I waited through 2008 and never received a tax bill. I just assumed the city hadn’t gotten around to the assessment as a condo. I decided to sell my condo in April 2009 so called the city to find out if they had done the assessment and what the taxes were so I could give the info to my selling agent. I was told the taxes would be $2661. A month later (yesterday) I got notice in the mail that my condo is being offered for tax sale by the city on July 30 of this year. It says the taxes were assessed December 31, 2008. I never received a tax bill from the city, nor did I receive any deliquency/late warnings or a warning saying my home was in danger of going to tax sale. When I called the city to get the number a month ago they didn’t say the payments were late or delinquent or that the property was heading to tax sale! I’m totally freaking out as I got the notice yesterday (Friday) after business hours and can’t talk to the city until Monday. If I pay my taxes will this all go away or is it too late to tstop my home going to tax sale. Surely I must legally receive notices before they can just seize my home. The other condo owners do escrow their taxes and tell me their mortgage companies have been paying theirs but that they never received a bill, just the mortgage company. I’m wondering if the city has been sending my tax bills to my mortgage company. In which case I’d expect my mortgage company to contact me but who knows? How can I stop this from happening? Help! I’m a responsible citizen, a teacher, and not an idiot. I realize now I should have called in 2008 to ask if the condo had been re-assessed but my agent told me it could take a year or more for them to get to it and that I’d get a bill when they did.

You have more than a month to go.

Get the money together (and plan on double until you actually see the bill) and get down and pay it. The taxing authority wants the money, not a sale.

When you file your taxes only the property tax is deductible in the year paid. You cannot deduct penalties or interest.

PS, when you call on Monday, keep it short.

"My condo is going into a tax sale. If I pay today, can this be stopped? What do I owe?" The drama is meaningful to you, but no one else.