Foreclosures.com Adds Tax Lien Properties to New York City Lis Pendens Reports

Business Wire, August 8, 2002

Business Editors

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2002

www.Foreclosures.com, a publisher of pre-foreclosure data for distressed property investors, has added New York City Tax Lien advisories to its Active Lis Pendens weekly reports for all five New York City boroughs.

Alexis McGee, www.Foreclosures.com's president, said that there would be no additional charge for the new information included in its Active Members Lis Pendens reports. The data will be available to all of the company's New York and New Jersey Active Members, who select a current Lis Pendens report, in any of the five New York City boroughs, effective immediately.

McGee outlined the delinquent property tax collection procedure that is peculiar to New York City. "New York City," explained McGee, "does not conduct its own tax auctions. Approximately once a year, the city sells all outstanding property tax liens to a trust held by the Bank of New York." "Lawsuits, known as Lis Pendens, are then filed," McGee continued, "and then, if the delinquent taxes are not paid, a judgement of foreclosure and sale is recorded about 12 to 18 months later, and an auction date is scheduled."

"The process," said McGee, "is very much like an ordinary New York foreclosure. The property is sold `as is' and the successful bidder must pay a deposit of 10% of the sale price in cash or certified funds immediately. The balance must be paid within 30 days to complete the sale."

"In many cases," McGee went on to say, "the property owner or the holder of the mortgage will pay the taxes at the last minute to avoid losing the property at auction. Investors are advised to contact the Referee, listed on our reports, just before the sale to make sure it is going forward. Once the auction begins, the opening bid may seem very low because only the delinquent taxes are at issue. But, if there are active bidders at the auction, the price will rise quickly until it approaches the actual fair market value of the property."

"From an investor's standpoint," she added, "this is why the best thing to do is to contact the property owner as early in the process as possible. These owners are listed in our report as `Defendant.'" "Do not contact the attorney or the plaintiff. They are not interested in helping the investor or the owner."

McGee went on to point out that "making a pre-foreclosure purchase of the property is the best way to help the owner preserve some equity while at the same time enabling the investor to acquire the property at a discount." "If the property goes to sale", she said, "the owner loses everything, including his or her credit." "If the lender has to step in and pay the taxes, they will add the tax bill to the mortgage balance and file a Lis Pendens on the whole loan to recover the money they had to advance to protect their interests."

"The whole nightmare starts all over again for the property owner." McGee said the New York City Tax Lien information is published about five days after the Lis Pendens is filed. "We employ the best local real estate research firms that we can find," she said. "Unlike some publishers, we do not recycle old data already made public elsewhere." At present, the Tax Lien data is only available for Active Members who select New York City's five boroughs (Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island) Lis Pendens reports.

"Our Lis Pendens (with Tax Lien data) and Auction Reports are posted on our website (www.Foreclosures.com) every Monday at noon for those Active Members who wish to download their own information, or it can be sent automatically by email," said McGee.

"Our Lis Pendens (with Tax Lien data) reports are new each week, and our Auction reports cover a moving forward four week time period to assure currency," she added. "Visit us at http://www.Foreclosures.com/pages/ny_nj.asp for complete information."

www.Foreclosures.com is owned by Tim and Alexis McGee of Sacramento, CA and began publishing distressed property information in California over ten years ago. The company now covers most of California, the Phoenix, Chicago and New York major metropolitan areas, as well as all of New Jersey.

They also offers training programs at a moderate cost for their clients in order to teach them the most effective ways to use of the pre-foreclosure information the firm's research service provides. The McGees, together with retired banker Andy Andersen also provide free personal consulting assistance to subscribers and students.

A free monthly online newsletter "The Foreclosure Forecast" is also available at http://www.foreclosures.com/pages/foreclosure_forecast.asp.