Back property taxes and tax liens
Falling behind on property taxes happens to more good people than you might think, and it rarely closes the door on selling. Most of the time, what is owed gets settled out of the sale itself when everything closes, rather than out of your pocket before you can move forward.
Get my offerIt is easy to feel trapped when a tax balance keeps climbing. Interest and penalties stack up quietly month after month, and when a conventional buyer shows up with a lender behind them, that lender tends to insist the tax bill be cleared before any loan money moves. That combination can make a house feel stuck, even when you are more than ready to be done with it.
Selling directly to us tends to untangle that. The way it usually goes, the title company settles the unpaid tax bill using money from the purchase itself, right there at closing, and we receive the home with its title cleared. Put simply, what the county is owed generally comes out of the price we pay, not out of your savings account beforehand. Long before signing day, every one of those figures is written down and walked through with you, so nothing at the table catches you off guard.
We also want to be plain about our lane. Scissortail is a home buyer, not a tax advisor or a law office, and nothing on this page is tax or legal advice. How a particular lien gets figured and released is for the county and the title company to confirm. What we offer is simpler than that: a way to hand off the house without needing to conquer the tax balance alone first.
This often looks like
- Property tax bills that went unpaid for a few years running
- Interest and penalty charges quietly piling on
- A lien the county has recorded on the home
- A place that costs more to hold onto than it gives back
- Hoping the closing itself can settle what is owed
Common questions
Do I have to pay the back taxes before I can sell to you?
Usually not. What is owed typically gets settled by the title company at closing, out of the purchase money itself, and every figure is written down for you well before then.
There is a mortgage and a tax lien. Can it still work?
Often yes, provided the purchase price reaches far enough to satisfy both. The title company verifies each payoff, and we sit down with you over the numbers before you commit to anything.
Is any of this tax advice?
No. We are home buyers, nothing more. Questions about your particular tax picture belong with a tax professional or with an attorney of your own.