Baltimore Real Estate Investing Blog

Ned Carey's Comments on Real Estate Investing, Business and Finance

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My Day in Court

April 10th, 2008 · 5 Comments

arlington-small-for-blog.jpgToday I was in court for a receiver action; or as the city calls it a “Show Cause Hearing”. I have to show cause why a receiver (see What is a Receiver?)  should NOT be appointed to auction off my property.

I had a tax lien on 526 N Arlington Ave 21223. The city took the owner to court. Well the last court date was postponed because they did not get proper service on the owner. That was a good thing. In the mean time I received a court decree for my tax lien. So today I was in court as the new owner.

So I spent most of the day yesterday well into the evening preparing for court. I had pictures with captions of properties I have renovated. I also had printed out pictures and permit lists of houses I have sold to other investors. I had 27 pages of well organized materials to show the judge.

I never showed it to the judge. When the City attorney saw what I had, he realized I was a responsible owner. We mutually agreed to delay the case for an month and a half to give me time to take some action.

The lesson here is; being prepared is invaluable. Based on what I saw in the other cases, I was the most prepared owner.   Probably the ONLY one with pictures or other documentation. Most including me were not represented by lawyers. A few attorneys showed up without their client. The judge did not like that. If you get called into court I suggest you come prepared with more than just a slick excuse. The judge has heard them all.

Now that I know I get to keep it, I want to sell it.  Does anyone want to buy a great rental?  Leave a comment or click the button on the upper right to sign up for my buyers list.

Happy investing and stay out of trouble, 

Ned

Tags: real estate

5 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Jonathan Benya (10 comments.) // Apr 14, 2008 at 9:00 am

    Great To Hear! The Local Governments are generally reasonable in matters like this, I recently went through something similar with an REO i’m working on. When the Inspectors saw us making a legit effort to fix their concerns, they dropped the lien filings completely, and it was a huge relief to everyone. Good job on being well prepared!

  • 2 Kay B. Day (1 comments.) // Apr 15, 2008 at 7:34 pm

    That is very good advice. Very eye-opening. Thank you. best, Kay

  • 3 LazyInvestor (1 comments.) // Apr 21, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Could not agree with you more. It is always best to be prepared. I cannot count the times that being prepared has helped me close a deal, win in court or with anything else that I attempted. Good job and best of luck in selling the property.

  • 4 Another day in court. // May 30, 2008 at 8:58 pm

    […] investing tips. Click the button to the right. Thanks for visiting!If you read my previous posts My Day in Court   and What is a Receiver? You know the city is trying to take one of my properties and auction it […]

  • 5 RaiulBaztepo // Mar 29, 2009 at 2:18 am

    Hello!
    Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
    PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language 😉
    See you!
    Your, Raiul Baztepo