Oakley Tax Sale & Payment
Unlike the Starter Home 2.0 Pleasant Ridge lot that was purchased through a conventional buyer-seller agreement with property taxes being divided and paid through escrow, the SH2.0 Oakley lot was acquired at a Hamilton County Sheriffs' Tax Sale auction where properties that have been forfeited back to the county due to unpaid taxes, are put up for public bid with the opening price being the amount of unpaid taxes owed plus advertising costs. The properties are sold 'as-is' and the sale amount must be paid in full with a cashier's check within 24 hours of the auction.
As I expected with the Oakley lot being in such a prime location, the purchase price ended up being significantly higher than the amount of taxes owed after a bidding war broke out between myself and several other interested buyers. Fortunately, I came away the winning bidder and while the amount was more than what I was hoping to pay originally, it was still significantly lower than what the lot would have sold for on the open market.
That tax sale auction was held on October 1, 2015 (the day after I moved into the SH2.0 Pleasant Ridge house) and it wasn't until February 16, 2016 that everything was processed and I finally received the Sheriffs' Deed for the property. Unfortunately, real estate taxes were due on February 1, 2016 so my first act as the official owner of the lot was to make a call to the Hamilton County Treasurer's office, explain my situation, and work out the payment of the remaining taxes owed for the first half of 2015. The good news is that they agreed to waive the late fee due to the fact I couldn't pay taxes on a property I did not yet have a deed to and I mailed that check out this morning.
The moral of the story here, which I have learned time and time again in my young development career, is that it is always best to pick-up the phone (or set-up a meeting) and actually talk to someone if there are any important questions that need answering or issues that need to get worked out. Follow-up emails can be sent as needed, but there is no substitution for real human interaction when it comes to getting things resolved.
