Another Arkansas Question - Attn. John Locke
I just found out that I won my bid on the "negotiated sale" 
My question is for folks that have done tax sales in Arkansas - is there any way around the 2 year limited deed issue? My lawyer thought we could just quiet the title, but the land comm. office said we had to wait 2 years....
My thought is that, since the place is abandoned, I could do enough fix up to rent it out, and use the rent money to pay for whatever I did to make it rentable. That way if someone comes back in two years to take me to court to try to get the property back and they win, I won't REALLY be out anything... the rent money would have covered my out-of-pocket expenses...
Any ideas? Suggestions? Especially to John Locke, who seems to have much more than an average grasp on the whole real estate "thing" 
Thanks everybody for all the great info!!
"New to this and trying to learn..."
Mischki
mischki,
Glad to meet you.
Thank you for the kind words, since each State is different in what is required, I forwarded you post to a person that may be able to answer your question.
Give me a little time on this one, I will see what I can do, if I don't have the answer, there is an excellent chance I know someone that can answer it.
Maybe some of the Tax Lien experts here at TCI may be familiar with Arkansas Law.
Anyway be assured I am working on it.
Welcome on board this board, I figured if your Attorney didn't know what was happening, I certainly do not want to give you bad advice.
John $Cash$ Locke
mischki,
I e-mailed Ronald * Starr your question who is a friend to all and has given great advice to the new person on many boards and forums. He is a well respected and knowledgeable investor in his own right.
-*--*-*-*-*-* John -*-*-*-*-*-*-*
I've not worked the Arkansas Taxsales. And, while I have read up some on the system, including having a book on the topic, I am not enough of an expert to deal with the questions asked, except to the extent that I answer here. These questions are mostly a matter of legal matters.
I suggest studying the laws related to the collection of delinquent property taxes in Arkansas. And that means reading the anotated statutes, not the "black law" or bare-bones statutes themselves, which would not have the court decisions and interpretations.
You'd be looking at whether it is true that you have to wait to do a quiet title lawsuit. Even a government official could be mistaken about the law related to this topic. But if you read it yourself, you can confirm what he has said or you can find out something different.
If I were there, I would be trying to research the situation or fate of the property owners. I'd check the county records and talk to neighbors and relatives, if possible. I'd be looking for deceased owners--not going to be coming after you themselves, although heirs might show up and fight you. If the owners are dead and you can't seem to find heirs, you can fix up the house to your heart's content, I would think.
Owners are alive and can be found. It might be possible to get a quit-claim deed from the owners which would make you comfortable to fix up the property as much as you'd like, as you would be the owner of all interest in the property. Also, you might be able to resell and get title insurance for your buyer, if that is what you want to do.
If owners cannot be located and their fate is unknown, I think the proposed course of action is fine. Put in as little as you can to get the property rented and then use rent money to fix it up more--even before the renters move in or as they are moving in. Later still, you might use still more rent money to do work on the property.
Good Investing*****Ron Starr******
Thank you John and Ron for such great help! I'm quite impressed with your dedication to help others on this board. I feel a great debt of gratitude to both of you to have taken time out of your busy schedules to answer my questions!
I do know the owners - or of them - they lived next door for a few years. The owner of record passed away in September. The children of the owner are - um, how do I put this gently - far from upstanding citizens. After the owner became ill, one of her sons moved into the house, under the condition that he pay the back taxes and fix the place up. Due to his credit situation, he couldn't even get the utilities turned on and his girlfriend had to do it. She also took out a loan from the bank to pay the back taxes, which he promptly spent on "recreational pharmaceuticals."
He was the most responsible of all her children... The only mortgage on record against the house was a $5000 paper taken out through a bail bonding service a few years ago to get one of her other sons out of jail. Even though that one hasn't been filed as paid, my lawyer says that it was null and void as soon as the man showed up for court, and there is a statute of limitations on those kinds of papers. He knows the bonding company anyway, and says it shouldn't be a problem (I love small towns )
So it sounds like I am on the right track as far as having my lawyer look into this. He suggested I make sure there was no estate opened on the owner so that the property wasn't tied up in probate, and as of yet, there hasn't been one.
I will forward your excellent advice over to him. If you are interested, I will let you know what I find out!!
And if I have to wait 2 years, that's okay, because I'm wanting to keep the property as a rental - I now own all but one lot on our block! Forget 401Ks, this is my retirement investment!
Thanks again for such wonderful attention to those of us just starting out. The support I have seen given to all on this site is amazing, and I count myself lucky to have found it!
Wish me luck!
Mischki
Mischki,
Yes, I would be interested in how things progress for you concerning this property.
I believe everyone on this board will learn from what you have to say.
I am a Nevada State Licensed & Bonded Bail Agent and owner of a Bail Bond Company.
Your Attorney is partly correct, if the 'meth head' (LOL) showed up for Court when he was supposed to and the case has been dismissed, then the Court should have issued Exoneration Paperwork to the Bail Bond Company, which means that the lien on the property should have been removed and the Bail Bondsman is off the hook for the money.
John $Cash$ Locke
Mischiki,
I'm in NW arkansas too and am about to begin investing again. No, there is no way around the two year period. State law even says that you cannot do a quiet title action until you have paid two years taxes subsequent to the time you purchased the property. yes, this is an excellent way to generate a rental income. many people have been doing this. It's a good investment. You could sell the property without title insurance but the people could not get financing for it thru banks, but you could offer financing. It's up to you. Well, congrats. I'd love to hear where you got your bargain. Email me at blueclassring@yahoo.com if you like.
It was my understanding that on properties bought after October 10, 2003, for properties on the negotiated sales list, since the two years has already passed since the initial failed auction, that the owner only has 90 days to file in court or forever hold his or her peace.
I received a mailer from the state a while back that stated this. Yeah I actually read them.
Arkansas State Lands holds the property for 5 years before they try to auction it, then you add two years before it goes on the negotiated sales list, thats 7 years already. This seems like plenty of time to me!
I called the office and they told me that you cannot do anything to the property, untill the time of ****Must Reach Senior Investor status before posting URL's***hey have alot of great deals.But the cost of foreclosure, and the fact that no interest is paid at redemption .There are alot of other states wiyh great deals THE QUIET TITLE REALLY BOTHERS ME.
Jagged wrote: "It was my understanding that on properties bought after October 10, 2003... that the owner only has 90 days to file in court or forever hold his or her peace."
If you note my initial posting, I started this process in February.
It's all a moot point now anyway.
Someone in the family redeemed the property at the last possible moment -literally - they scraped the cash together four hours before it was final.
So now it's a crack house again.
We built a 12-foot privacy fence.