Re: Who's at Fault??

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You are ONLY responsible for property taxes from the moment
escrow closed the transaction

I suggest to go to the Property Tax Assesor and explain the
situation and mistake made by the Title Company and bring all
paperwork and they should be able to change the tax bill to
the previous owners

The previous owners will never offer to pay you anything, they
are being reasured by the Title Company that they are clear
and free to pay what they owed

If everything fails sue the Title Company for the taxes owed,
Court Fees, Attorney's Fees etc., after all it was their
mistake, which shall never happened in the first place, as
they are experts on Real Estate Closing costs, which shall
always include the parties involved to pay property taxes,
this is unavoidable

Good luck

Don

On 12/19/05, Curmudgeon wrote:
> If your purchase agreement says the seller is supposed to
> pay a portion of the taxes, go after seller. Why didn't you
> have an attorney with you at closing?
>
> On 12/19/05, Maurice Fenske wrote:
>> Maurice & Christine Fenske
>> 1546 Covey Drive
>> River Falls, WI 54022
>> 715-425-8934
>>
>> Four Seasons Title , of 206 2nd Street in Hudson, WI.
>> closed the mortgage deal for our new home on 9-7-05 at
>> their Hudson, WI. Office. They also have an office in
>> Roseville, MN.
>>
>> At the time, we believed that this professional title
>> service being paid for by us was going to make certain all
>> of our home closing documents were in order.
>>
>> On 12-16-05 I received a 2005 tax bill from the City Of
>> River Falls, WI...where our home is located. The tax bill
>> was $5,096.98 for the tax year 2005.
>>
>> I reviewed my paperwork from the closing, expecting that
>> there would have been a contribution to our escrow account
>> at closing in reference to the seller's owed taxes for the
>> time from January 1st, 2005 to the date of closing per our
>> purchase contract.
>>
>> The title Company did not do the required paperwork to
>> find out the actual 2005 assessed value from the assessor
>> or they would have known the home assessed at $218,000 and
>> then they could have taken and prorated the taxes the
>> seller owed up to the date of closing and I would not be
>> stuck with a $5100 tax bill for a property I only owned
>> for 116 days in 2005.
>>
>> The home is a new construction home that was finished in
>> December of 2004, per the City of River Falls Inspector.
>> The home reassessment for taxes was completed and closed
>> for 2005 on 5-13-05.
>>
>> Had this title Company called the Assessor they could have
>> found out the assessed value and with that, contacted the
>> treasurer and got the mill levy information needed to
>> estimate very closely what the 2005 property taxes would
>> come to be. Then the title company could have done their
>> job and collected the proper monies from the seller at
>> closing and I would not be the one holding the bag now. At
>> the very least, the Title Company should have estimated
>> high because they knew from the appraisal and purchase
>> contract that this home was being bought by us for
>> $265,000.
>>
>> I have talked this over with the title company and they
>> refuse to accept fault , even though our purchase
>> agreement clearly states that the current years tax
>> information will be used if available (which it surely was
>> if they called the right people).
>>
>> Instead the title company took the easy route, looked up
>> our tax value online the Pierce County's website , found
>> the valuation for 2004 (when the property was a vacant
>> lot) and they did the pro-rations off of that $642 tax
>> amount for 2004 on the vacant lot. They only collected
>> $442 from the Seller at Closing for 2005 Taxes.
>>
>> They Screwed up royally and have apologized, even though
>> they said they should have caught the mistake……….they
>> refuse to make it right !!!!
>>
>> I should be given actual monies equal to the excess taxes
>> I am being held accountable for their mistake. I have been
>> in this home just over a hundred days in 2005 , therefore
>> I should only be responsible for about $1500 of the $5100
>> 2005 tax bill. They should be responsible for the
>> remainder and be up to them to collect any money from the
>> seller if they so chose. I have talked to the seller and
>> he has said the same thing.........They screwed up and the
>> Seller is not offering to pay his portion now!!!!