Selling a home to clear debt, liens or taxes?

How to sell a house with liens or title issues

We put together these Frequently Asked Questions about selling a house with liens, back taxes and mortgages. Feel free to give us a call if you have any other questions.

Can I sell a house with a mortgage or liens on it?

Yes you can sell a house with mortgages or liens on it. Traditionally these liens would be paid off at the closing using the funds from the purchase. There is some flexibility on this with certain liens being able to be “assumed” by the purchaser.

What if my mortgage is higher than what the house is worth?

Negative equity can happen if your house has aged or the market has gone down. It does make it hard to sell because if you do a traditional sale you will need to pay the difference between what the house sold for and what you owed. There are options to get around this if you are dealing with a sophisticated investor like Home Buyer Louisiana (because let’s face it no one likes to pay somebody to take their property). If you are in this situation then we could facilitate a short sale with your bank, or buy the house above market rate by leaving the financing in place and taking over the mortgage payments. Every bodies situation is different and we have a lot of experience buying houses with negative equity so give us a call or fill out our contact form to see if we can help you out.

Can I sell a house with a road home lien?

Yes you can, but the lien will need to be paid off at the closing or agreed to be assumed by the buyer. It is very likely that some (or all) of your road home loan would qualify to be forgiven. When we buy a house with a road home lien we get our title attorney to work with you to get the maximum amount of the loan forgiven so you keep more of the cash sale in your pocket. Road home liens are common in Louisiana and we are used buying homes with liens like this.

Can I sell a house if somebody has bought my property tax debt?

As long as the house has not been foreclosed on yet then you are free to sell the property. You would need to pay the taxes and the interest at the closing which would come out of the sale proceeds. If someone does own your property tax in Louisiana then they have the right to foreclose on your property after 3 years or 18 months if the property is vacant. If you can’t pay off that tax debt then you are best to sell before you get foreclosed on as the holder of the tax lien won’t have to pay you anything over the taxes they paid. By selling the house you will be able to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off the tax debt and you will keep the rest of your houses equity to help you move to your next home.

Can I sell a house that has code enforcement liens?

Yes you can sell a house with code violation liens. The code enforcement liens would have to be paid off at the closing. The title attorney would pay them directly from the proceeds of the sale. If your house is still not up to code it is up to the new buyer to fix the issues to avoid further code violations. Home Buyer Louisiana buys blighted houses with code violations all the time and is happy to buy them As-Is and take responsibility for getting them up to code.

Can I sell my house if it has a contractors lien?

Yes you can sell your house with a contractor lien. This lien would need to be paid at the closing and you can use the proceeds of the sale to pay the lien off and you would keep the rest of the money.

Not sure if you can sell your house?

Give us a call and we would be happy to talk you through your options. We have bought houses in many different situations and have a strong network of title attorneys and real estate professionals to draw upon. We often find that people come to us having tried to sell their house through many mediums and think that they can’t find a solution. We love nothing more than showing people like this that they do have options. We are very used to helping people navigate liens and complicated title issues when trying to sell their house.