Ontario Tax Sale Property Forum
Tax Sale Forum => Introduce Yourself => Topic started by: Encore! on March 30, 2010, 03:14:05 PM
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When I was a property assessor I thought I was too busy to learn about tax sale properties. Now that I am ?semi-retired? (= ?need to supplement my pension?) I am even busier, but more self-directed. I have submitted bids on a few properties and attended a couple of auctions. I read the books about it and questioned municipal officials. I drove by properties listed on the Gazette. I did some searches at registry offices. I looked at the websites for tax sale properties. All this was necessary but not sufficient. I felt that something was missing. Then I took the time to check out the Discussion Board on this site. I value highly the support from you all for sharing information there as much as I value the information itself.
Since we were now mobile, we realized we didn?t need to live in an area with high housing costs. We could move where we didn?t need a job, but did need a house. Where is the best place in Canada for those criteria? Windsor. We met someone who showed us how to get a 25% discount on the closing costs with Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc. Having the plan, we could have our mortgage document reviewed by a lawyer included in the monthly fee. We did, and he found a clause that we also questioned, about spousal rights of ownership. We arranged for the lawyer to call the bank while we were there to sign the document. The bank officer had the clause struck and we all initialled the margin. We were then referred to a local lawyer in Windsor to do the closing. After we were moved in and the lawyer had been paid, we received two refund cheques from the lawyer doing the closing! A few months later we paid our phone bill online, and the phone company lost it. The bank showed the money coming out of the account and said we would have to deal with the phone company. The phone company said they never received it and we would have to deal with the bank. We said no problem, we?ll just turn the matter over to our lawyer. The next day a senior manager at the bank called to say the money was back in our account. The lawyer hadn?t even finished drafting the letters he was going to send to the bank and the phone company. He said sometimes just the mention of the word lawyer is enough to get action. There was no additional charge beyond our monthly fee. Then since our assets had changed we had our wills and powers of attorney done, included in the plan. Later someone got my credit card number and used it to play poker online, but I wasn?t worried because the plan includes identity theft restoration services. I am sharing these stories with you because when I reviewed the posts, I saw cases where people were reluctant to consult a lawyer at $250/hr and up. Having this plan I know I can get a phone consultation on an unlimited number of matters and I expect to use it if I am in a similar situation with tax sale property negotiations. And yes, we signed up as agents, so you may or may not be interested but you can find out more at www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/rogerandkathleen.