Lost vacant lot to tax auction because it was never probated

I contacted a seller of a vacant lot here in Port St. Lucie Fl.

It turned out the seller was the only heir living in the family, but the property was still in the parents name.    Since there was no will or testament in the family, the vacant land would need to be probated to legally put the property into the seller’s name.

Here is what happened.

When the seller first called me, she wasn’t sure she wanted to sell her land.

I stayed in touch with her for nearly two years, checking in every two or three months to see if I could buy it.

Meanwhile, the taxes remained unpaid, and eventually St. Lucie County started the process of tax auction to force either payment or sale of the property.

The taxes due were under $2,000.00

Finally, about 2 weeks before the scheduled tax auction, the seller agreed to sell it to me.

However, she was unable to do so, because she was not the legal owner. Seller had no money to probate the property properly, nor pay the taxes to stop the auction.

Because of her inaction and inability to make a decision for two years since first talking with me, she lost the vacant lot to the St. Lucie County tax auction.

Normally, the title holder who loses the vacant land to auction will receive proceeds above and beyond the amount necessary to settle the debt.

However, in this particular case, the estate with no legal representative holds the money, and therefore it goes to unclaimed funds.

I feel bad for the seller.  She can’t afford to probate, and she can’t afford to get the unclaimed money in the estate.

Lessons I learned on this vacant land.

1.  Prepare a will before you die to define who gets your  assets.
2.  In Florida, this vacant land was in an estate that needed to be probated.  It could run any where from $2500 for simple uncontensted case, to untold expenses in a contested case.

I still look for vacant land.  If you are thinking about selling your vacant land that I can have a house built on in Port St Lucie, or St Lucie county, I’m interested in making you an offer.

Fill out the offer request form for your vacant land.