Today 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
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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