The Search
The county tax office, for your parcel, by address and by owner name. Whether anything is outstanding, and whether the property has been sold at a tax sale.
It is public, it is free, and it takes minutes. It also outranks everything else, because it decides what you are able to sell. The framework is on our page covering redemption and possession.
Why by Owner Name as Well?
Answer One: Current
Then this whole subject falls away and you have an ordinary fire file. What decides it is whether the framing survived and what the house would be worth repaired.
What follows: an engineer for the structure, an agent with no interest in the outcome for the finished value, and then a decision between repairing, listing and selling as it stands. Across Over the Mountain and much of Shelby County that decision usually goes against a cash buyer, and we say so.
Answer Two: Behind, But Not Sold
The most time-sensitive position and the one where a sale does something no other route does.
You still hold title. You can convey it, and a buyer receives clean title rather than a right to redeem. That is worth materially more to any purchaser than the same property after a sale, which means it is worth more to you.
Should I Pay the Taxes off First?
Answer Three: Sold, Within Three Years
You hold a right to redeem rather than title. Administrative redemption through the tax office is available within three years of the sale, and it means paying the sale amount, subsequent taxes, interest, and on residential property the value of preservation improvements.
What follows: an Alabama lawyer, before anything else, and a decision that is genuinely financial. Redemption is worth it where the property is worth more than the redemption cost, and that comparison needs both numbers.
Answer Four: Sold, More Than Three Years Ago
The administrative route has closed and judicial redemption under section 40-10-83 is the remedy, subject to the limitation period.
Whether that period has run against you turns on possession: it does not begin unless the tax purchaser adversely possesses, and an owner who has retained possession keeps the right without a time limit. That is a legal question about facts on the ground, and it is one for a lawyer rather than a buyer.
What We Do With Your Address
The tax search. First, always, before we look at anything else.
The county parcel record. Which county and city hold the property, and the build year.
Local sale evidence. What the house would be worth repaired, on the actual street.
The structure. Whether the framing survived, which decides the repair-or-rebuild question.
What Comes Back
A written figure with each line visible: finished value, cost of the work, carrying cost and margin. Plus what the tax search showed, stated plainly and separately, whether or not you sell to us.
What If the Search Comes Back Badly?
What Never Happens
No fee at any stage. No request that you clear the site, commission a report or repair anything first. No requirement that your claim be settled. No assignment of the contract to a third party. We do not approach a tax purchaser about your property, and we do not bid at tax sales on an address we have discussed with somebody.
Common Questions About the Process
How Long Does It Take?
Address to written figure is usually a few days. Closing depends on title and on the tax position. The insurance claim does not have to be settled first.
Do I Need to Be in Alabama?
No. Out-of-state owners are common on inherited property and remote closing is routine.
I Already Know It Was Sold.
Then say so at the start and get a lawyer. It is workable, and it changes what is being sold and therefore the number.