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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Posts
    1

    Default Liability on Vacant Property

    My question involves a foreclosure in the State of: Texas

    I'm wondering if I should file a quit claim deed on a vacant condo ... I'm concerned about liability for anything that might happen while it's vacant and before the foreclosure occurs.

    Here's my story:

    I have a condo that I've stopped making the mortgage payments on ... I want it to be foreclosed on.
    I'm upside-down on the mortgage ... have been for 20 years ( thanks to the S&L crisis in the late 80's ). I'd been making my mortgage payments all these years, hoping that eventually I'd get out from underwater and be able to sell it. But with the latest real-estate meltdown, property values have plummeted even further, and I've finally decided that it's pointless to keep making mortgage payments hoping for the situation to get better.
    I can't sell it ... no realtor will touch it ... it's worth less than $20K ( not worth their time )
    I stopped making mortgage payments a year ago, and the condo is now vacant.
    As I've said ... I want it to be foreclosed on ... I just want to finally be rid of it and end this torment.
    But the bank is dragging it's feet ... I have no idea how soon they're going to put me out of my misery, and I'm very concerned that something will happen to the property in the mean time.

    So my question ... would a Quit Claim Deed take the property out of my possession ( and thus eliminate my liability for anything that may happen ) ... and perhaps even induce the bank to act.
    I realize that it wouldn't absolve me of responsibility for the mortgage ... that's not my intent.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    1,995

    Default Re: Liability on Vacant Property

    I had a car repair business once, and your situation reminds me of what happened with a customer of mine.

    He bought in a car for a small repair. But turns out the car has more serious problems, won't pass inspection. Finally it came down to "why spend a few thousand on repairs for a car worth at most a few hundred repaired"??

    So he tried and tried to sign the car over to sign the car over to me, for nothing. I kept saying "no no no"!! He doesn't understand that my business is not hiring tow trucks to haul junk off my lot, to the junk yard, just collecting enough to pay the tow.

    Why spend all that effort, make no money on it, where I can put my feet up on my desk and make the same amount??

    So, he left my office hopping mad.

    Same story with your bank. They're not collecting any money on the mortgage. OK, they can deal with it. Why add insult to injury having to maintain the place and pay insurance on it, monies that you don't have ??? Don't they have enough to do??

    Maybe you can contact some charitable orgainization in your area who may be in need of a place for homeless people, and deed them the place. I don't know the tax and mortgage issues involved with this, but at least it's a thought.

    Another idea is, there are RE boards where RE investors post, and perhaps you post your situation there, and I've seen cases where these investors would ask you to email the details off the board, to take over the property on some kind of "short sale bases".

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Liability on Vacant Property

    for a shorter answer:

    No, you cannot unilaterally deed a property to a person without their acceptance.

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