Due Diligence_ Wayne County Example
Hello All, The landbank team talks a lot about doing your due diligence and using the acronym "AFRICA" - Area, Fundamentals of a sewer, Road frontage, Infill lots, Comparables, & Accessibility to power in order to help you in the purchasing process and to help you mitigate losses when purchasing land and/or housing. A part of that Due Diligence process is the thorough reviewing of the declarations and by laws of land or houses purchased within a POA/HOA. Many of these bylaws are 30-100 pages long but must be reviewed as a part of your due diligence process. For example: The hideout's covenants and bylaws are listed on their website: Hideout POA In it they note that if you purchase unimproved land (land with no house on it) you are still subject to paying for water whether you use it or not. Example #2: Check the property the day before and the day OF purchase. The reasoning is twofold: 1) People are allowed to redeem their property up until the day of the sale and 2) A POA can place a lien on the property at any time prior to your purchase. You won't know unless you call and they will try to make you responsible for it as the new owner. You will have to contact them and try to negotiate payment of a lien that is ultimately not your responsibility if you purchased through the repository. Unfortunately, the county regards this as a “buyer beware/ As is” purchase to which you will potentially now be liable. Nearly all of the Wayne County properties have POAs so make sure you read those Covenants & Bylaws. Lastly, Check with the county to find out the date of their last lien check. If the last check was more than six months ago, then check with the POA for any recent lien proceedings and check with the county to see if they can check again to discharge the debt prior purchase. Do your homework and have a good EXIT strategy in place. Good luck & Blessing upon all of your endeavors.