{"id":6899,"date":"2025-10-14T08:30:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T12:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/?p=6899"},"modified":"2025-10-14T08:30:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T12:30:47","slug":"from-the-have-nots-to-the-haves-skewed-taxation-is-moving-deeds-from-homeowners-to-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deeds.com\/articles\/from-the-have-nots-to-the-haves-skewed-taxation-is-moving-deeds-from-homeowners-to-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cFrom the Have-Nots to the Haves\u201d: Skewed Taxation Is Moving Deeds from Homeowners to Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As our readers know, property tax is an under-the-radar cost of acquiring a deed. Property taxes are up 27% from pre-pandemic days, according to CoreLogic figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The communities struggling the most appear to be paying the most, a recent ABC television investigation found. An ABC News<\/em> report shows how \u201chomeowners in minority communities often face steeper property taxes.\u201d The resultant tax liens<\/a> are forcing some to lose their lifetime homes to investment companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Baffled in Baltimore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ABC introduced viewers to Bonita Anderson of Baltimore. Anderson was baffled, said the reporter, to find out her home had been lost to investors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A grandmother of eight, Bonita bought a home to pass down to family members. But just this year, her home went on the market. The sale price, $540K, was more than 5X her original purchase price back in 2009. But Bonita Anderson is getting nothing. That\u2019s because Baltimore recorded a tax lien on the home and ultimately auctioned it off to a company that acquires deeds from tax sales. The investment company snagged the Anderson home for under $70K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond baffled, Bonita was feeling despair. She told ABC her reaction when she got the news: \u201cOh my god, I’m 70 years old and I’m homeless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonita Anderson has a daughter who was able to accommodate her mother as a housemate. Bonita would later take her case to a Baltimore courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her case is far from unique. The Anderson home was one of thousands to be listed in Baltimore tax sales each year. More than 90% of these seized homes are in majority-nonwhite neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not for Lack of Trying<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After more than a decade of faithfully paying down a mortgage, Bonita Anderson received a cancer diagnosis in 2020. Paying medical bills and property tax bills proved overwhelming. This frazzled deed holder fell behind on her property taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She did try to resolve the matter, though. She had paid the tax collectors nearly $19K in 2022. That actually amounted to more than 3X what she owed in past-due taxes. Now here\u2019s the rub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time, Baltimore was applying Bonita Anderson\u2019s payments to taxes that were due from the new owner. Bonita was, in effect, paying the investment company \u2014 which had acquired the debt at a Baltimore City tax sale in 2022. The company foreclosed on Bonita\u2019s debt in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonita\u2019s lawyer claims that Baltimore failed to follow federal law. The city\u2019s lawyer insists that Baltimore gave proper notice to Bonita, and that the government itself did not keep extra profits from the tax sale, which would be unconstitutional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping the profits over and above the debt that a taxpayer owes, according to a case <\/strong><\/em>the U.S. Supreme Court decided<\/em><\/strong><\/a> in 2023, offends the Constitution\u2019s Fifth Amendment.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uneven Tax Burdens Across Communities<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The research carried out at ABC turned up an unsettling correlation. Throughout the United States, deed holders in areas with mainly minority-owned homes \u201care generally taxed more than those in mostly white neighborhoods for a house with similar market values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the numbers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n