Own a vacant house you want out of?

How can I sell a vacant house?

Tell me about it. I buy houses five ways, so one may fit even if there's a mortgage on it or it needs a lot of work.

• A cash offer I buy the house outright, any loan is paid off at closing, and you move on.
• Taking over your payments I buy the house and take over the existing mortgage payments; the loan itself stays in your name.
• Seller financing You sell me the house and I pay you over time, with the terms written into a note we both sign.
• A lease option I lease your house with the right to buy it later at a price we set now.
• A novation We agree on your price, I fix up and market the house, and it sells on the open market.

Can you insure a vacant house?

A regular policy may not cover it for long. In Texas, the Department of Insurance says most companies stop coverage if a house is vacant for 60 days or more, though they usually don't stop liability coverage.

New York's standard fire insurance policy says the insurer is not liable for a loss while a building is vacant or unoccupied for more than 60 days in a row, unless the policy says otherwise in writing.

The California Department of Insurance lists losses to a house vacant for 60 days or more as generally not covered by a homeowners policy.

A company may also refuse to renew a policy if the house is in bad condition, or may require repairs first. If you will be away from the house for a long time, the department says to talk to your insurance company to make sure your coverage continues.

New Jersey's insurance department says licensed insurers may not cover some homes, for example a home that is unoccupied. When coverage can't be bought from insurers licensed in New Jersey, state law lets it be placed with an eligible surplus lines insurer through a licensed New Jersey surplus lines agent. If neither works, an owner may be able to get coverage through the New Jersey Insurance Underwriting Association, known as the FAIR Plan.

Can a town charge you for a vacant house's upkeep?

It can. In Texas, a city may require owners to keep their land free of weeds, brush and certain nuisances, and if an owner doesn't fix a problem within seven days of notice, the city can do the work itself and charge the cost to the owner. The city's lien covers what it spent plus interest at 10 percent.

In Texas, if a building isn't vacated, secured, repaired, removed or demolished in the time the city allows, the city may vacate, secure, remove or demolish it itself, at its own expense. The city can then charge those costs to the property and has a lien on it, unless the property is a homestead protected by the Texas Constitution.

A Texas city may also charge the owner a civil penalty for failing to repair, remove or demolish a substandard building.

In New Jersey, a town can ask the Superior Court for possession and control of an abandoned property that needs rehabilitation, and with the court's approval, the town's public officer can put a lien on the property to cover the town's costs in the case.

Does a vacant house have to be registered?

In some places, if it's in foreclosure, and then the lender registers it. New Jersey lets each town create a registration program for homes and commercial properties in foreclosure, and under such an ordinance, the lender that filed the foreclosure must register the property with the town.

In New York, the lender, assignee or loan servicer must send the state Department of Financial Services the information it requires about a vacant and abandoned home within 21 business days of when it learns, or should have learned, that the home is vacant and abandoned. The registry information is confidential, though the DFS superintendent may release it when that is in the public's best interest.

Towns, cities and other local taxing governments may keep their own list of vacant and abandoned properties. A local list of vacant and abandoned properties must be open to the public.

What happens if the property taxes on a vacant house go unpaid?

The bill grows, and the house can eventually be lost. In Texas, a delinquent tax gets a 6 percent penalty for the first month, plus 1 percent for each added month before July 1, and the taxing unit can sue to foreclose its tax lien, to collect from the owner personally, or both.

Unpaid tax also builds interest at 1 percent a month. If a house sold at a tax sale was not the owner's homestead or agricultural land, the owner can redeem it only up to 180 days after the deed from the sale is filed.

In New Jersey, when property taxes or other town liens on a property are still unpaid at the end of the town's fiscal year, the tax collector must enforce the lien by selling the property at a tax sale the next fiscal year. After a tax sale, the owner, a mortgage lender or an occupant, among others, can still redeem the property by paying the tax collector, until the right to redeem is cut off.

Anyone holding a tax sale certificate that didn't come from the town can sue to foreclose the owner's right to redeem once two years have passed since the certificate was sold. In that kind of foreclosure, the owner can protect any equity in the property by asking the Superior Court in writing, before final judgment, to have the certificate holder foreclose through a judicial sale, the way a mortgage is foreclosed. If the property counts as abandoned under the state's abandoned property law, though, the certificate holder can go to Superior Court at any time to have the owner's right to redeem barred.

An owner behind on property taxes can clear the tax lien by paying the overdue amount, including charges, before the redemption period ends. That redemption period usually ends two years after the tax lien date. A tax district may cut that redemption period to one year for a vacant and abandoned home that was put on a local vacant list before the taxes became overdue.

How does a house get off New Jersey's abandoned property list?

The town can take a property off its abandoned property list at any time when the public officer finds it no longer meets the law's definition of abandoned property. The public officer must also promptly take a property off the list once an appeal decides it is not abandoned.

A property is not put on the list if it is being fixed up in a timely way, shown by building permits and steady work under them.

A qualified town that has appointed a public officer can pass an ordinance telling that officer to find abandoned properties and put them on an abandoned property list.

The public officer puts properties on the list by publishing the list in the town's official newspaper, and within 10 days after that must mail a notice to the owner of record of each listed property. An owner or lienholder can appeal a listing to the public officer within 30 days of receiving the certified notice, or 40 days from the date it was sent.

A listed property is presumed abandoned unless the owner shows, in an affidavit or certification that gives the reasons, that it was put on the list by mistake.

If the public officer turns the appeal down, the owner can bring a summary case in the Superior Court, Law Division, in the property's county, within 20 days of the notice of the decision.