I got garnisheed for blight tickets on a property that I surrendered in bankruptcy in 2011. Is there anything that I can do to eliminate or reduce this? The property is in Detroit, MI. Thanks --70.158.xxx.xx

Normally the lender forecloses on the property if you have surrendered it in BK. It's been 9 years since the surrender so the BK should have happened by now. Check the public records to see the status. If it is unclear, contact your BK attorney to get advice on where to go from here. --68.104.xxx.xxx

Did the bank ever take over title to the property? If they didn't, do you still own it and can you sell it at this point? You may find that it slipped through the cracks and is still yours. --50.107.xxx.xxx

So he created a Nevada corp LLC, and deeded all the properties to the LLC and walked away. City fined the LLC which he never renewed and then foreclosed on the properties. He was out the purchase price and a few thousand to the handyman who was doing the fix up/board ups. --137.119.xxx.xx

I talk to people regularly that did a BK and assumed the bank would foreclose but they didnt,they dont have to.Look it up,maybe the bank released the mortgage and you can sell it,maybe not.Either way you need to figure out where you stand then figure out a way to get rid of it. --104.229.xxx.xxx

The bank didn’t foreclose I discovered. I didn’t get notice until the garnishee. I was hoping someone had suggestions to reduce or eliminate this cost. Thanks --68.36.xxx.xxx

--67.209.xxx.xx

The debt was eliminated, I still own it and can try to sell but still don’t want to pay blight tickets. --68.36.xxx.xxx

You no longer owe the debt because of the BK but unless the bank released the mortgage there is still a mortgage filed against the property,you need to do a title search and find out if the mortgage is still there or not,also what about property taxes? i am surprised the city didnt foreclose for non payment of property tax,call the taxing authority and ask about that --104.229.xxx.xxx

How much are the tickets? --73.120.xx.xxx

$4,234 --68.36.xxx.xxx

You are stuck with the tickets. You will need to pay the tickets if/when you sell the property. Unless the city takes the property before you sell it. --71.233.xxx.xx

Can you fix up the property at a low cost to prevent new blight tickets? --71.233.xxx.xx

I will have to find a way to Jerry. Thanks for your input. --68.36.xxx.xxx

I would check on the mortgage release and see if they let it go. Worst case scenario, if they didn't let it go and you can't sell it, then just rent it out. Rent it until they end up taking it. --174.198.xx.xxx

I would check on the mortgage release and see if they let it go. Worst case scenario, if they didn't let it go and you can't sell it, then just rent it out. Rent it until they end up taking it. --174.198.xx.xxx

--68.104.xxx.xxx

--67.209.xxx.xx

I am confused. --73.120.xx.xxx

The debt would have been erased with BK, right? --73.120.xx.xxx

The debt is erased but the bank knows the properties they take back in Detroit likely will be vandalized, so they often don’t take them back. --68.36.xxx.xxx

John…, It does happen. Banks will walk away from that and leave the ownership in prior owners names. There's a loose name that this is sometimes referred to. I've heard it called zombie foreclosures or zombie mortgages. You could look that up and read on it maybe find some videos about it. --50.107.xxx.xxx

Called zombie houses. 6x6 bank does not have to foreclose so it remains owned by the poster who filed bankrupt.In some cases the bank will release the mortgage,in the last year i have bought 4-5 houses in this sutuation,you would be surprised how nice some of them are,i bought one that the owner was still living in for $9000 and turned around and sold it for $70000 and did nothing to it.I target these houses with mailings and call the owners --104.229.xxx.xxx

You would be best to put just enough money in to make it habitable and rent the thing out. If you put too much money in making repairs the bank can still foreclose but it's not likely. --68.162.xxx.xxx

Ken [NY], how do you identify zombie houses when creating a mailing list? --98.122.xxx.xx

--104.229.xxx.xxx

After rereading, I take it you gave the resident 9k in cash, so what about the bank? --73.120.xx.xxx

6x6 The bank released the mortgage so yes title is clear,the bank is out of the picture as far as the house is concerned although they only released the mortgage and not the note so the seller still owes the bank the money but no security,as in no house to secure the debt so the bank got nothing.In this particular case the guy had filed bankruptcy so he no longer owed the debt.He and his BK attorney assumed the bank would foreclose and never checked the title to figure out what happened,i am in the business of buying houses not informing people that banks walked away from there mortgage so i gave him $9000 cashiers check,he needed a couple months to move south so that was part of the deal and he did as he had agreed to.Ironic thing was this guy just inherited enough money to be building a new house down south.I sold it to a friend for $70000 who had the interior cleaned and painted and got an appraisal for $110000 in order to refi it and have a long term mortgage.First time i took one of these to my title guy they said they had never seen one of them but there attorneys agreed the mortgage was gone and provided a title policy no problem.This house was liveable and in a decent neighborhood,my friend gets $1500 month rent now for it so if you look for these dont assume they are only in d class neighborhoods --104.229.xxx.xxx

Thank You Ken. --73.120.xx.xxx

Thank you, Ken. --98.122.xxx.xx