Need to donate/sell property in West Virginia...any ideas?

[Ottakee]

As a family (6 of us each getting a %) we inherited some property in West Virginia.  A few pieces we want to keep. Several though as essentially worthless to us.  The taxable values on each piece are about $200.  These are land locked pieces of an acre or so way up in the mountains.  The person we inherited them from bought them at a tax sale 40+ years ago.....and there was a reason they went to a tax sale way back then.

We would be fine letting them go to a tax sale but don't want to risk our credit scores or having a lien put on our property.  The tax bills are about $9 a year but because they have to send out 6 tax bills for each piece each have to pay the minimum payment which might be $15....so we are paying $75 total for a tax bill of $9.  We just need to simplify things greatly as one family member is nearing elderly and another quite ill.

Any ideas?  No realtor would take this on, so far no adjacent property owners are interested, and I doubt any charity would accept them as a donation.

[fairfarmhand]

Maybe call the people at the county and ask them for ideas. You’re right! It’s a ridiculous situation! 

[Melissa in Australia]

Can they be donated as public land?  Here you could donate to the shire and it would become crown land. But I don't think it would have same terminology there

[itsheresomewhere]

Perhaps see if you can sell them as hunter’s land ( not sure the correct real estate term).  They buy these to use a few times during the hunting season and that is it.  They know they can’t really do much with it but it does sell as it.  These types pop up often on a land for sale group I am on and go fast. 

[Faith-manor]

How long ago was the inheritance? If it is relatively recent and the deed has not yet been transferred, I think you can refuse the inheritance.

If memory serves, you can donate the land to the state department of natural resources and it becomes state property. Some townships will also take it.

You could advertise it for free and use a quit claim deed to for fast transfer of ownership.

[Tap]

27 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

How long ago was the inheritance? If it is relatively recent and the deed has not yet been transferred, I think you can refuse the inheritance.

If memory serves, you can donate the land to the state department of natural resources and it becomes state property. Some townships will also take it.

You could advertise it for free and use a quit claim deed to for fast transfer of ownership.

I advise against a quit claim. My parents had property in my name and quit claimed it to another buyer. That buyer quit paying taxes, so the state tried to make me pay the taxes, but the property itself was going back to the previous owner ( before me). It was messy and luckily the people who were behind in taxes caught it up and sold it.
 

Maybe see if someone who has adjoining land would buy it, or see if you can donate to a public entity ( city, dept of fish wildlife etc). There are wild land protection groups too, that protect/keep untouched land for environmental causes. 

[Ottakee]

33 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

How long ago was the inheritance? If it is relatively recent and the deed has not yet been transferred, I think you can refuse the inheritance.

If memory serves, you can donate the land to the state department of natural resources and it becomes state property. Some townships will also take it.

You could advertise it for free and use a quit claim deed to for fast transfer of ownership.

It was 14 years ago 😒

i wondered about donating to the township/county or a conservation group…..but not sure they want anything that is land locked with no visible/deeded easement for access.

One property is so old that the deed/legal description is something  like :

From the old oak tree 30 large paces to Mrs Watsons fence to the center of the creek to the big rock…….no lie, it is that bad.   And the oak tree died 100 years ago, the fence is long gone, the creek moved a bit and who knows which rock it is.

[KungFuPanda]

How much land and in which county?

[Carol in Cal.]

I would try the conservation trust in the area—they are pretty common.  Search on Open Space Trusts and see if you can donate the land.

Or alternatively I would approach local or affiliated community foundations to see whether you can donate it to them.

My guess is that either of these would be more likely to accept it than a realtor or buyer, because they don’t usually pay property taxes, so the carrying costs would be insignificant—they might even have an umbrella real estate liability policy to cover insurance needs already for their existing holdings that would cover this, too.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Carol in Cal.

[Ottakee]

51 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

How much land and in which county?

Braxton and Calhoun if I remember right.  Several pieces ranging from 0.16 acres up to 3 acres or so.  I can look more tomorrow 

[LifeLovePassion]

Can you just deed it vs sell it to an adjoining neighbor if it truly isn't worth much?

[PeterPan]

Seems like a good parcel for a cell tower site. 😂

Can you pay the taxes ahead a couple years? Online? 

[Serenade]

I inherited some land that was part of a larger family parcel quite some years ago.  The property was a 10 hour drive from where I lived, so basically I inherited a tax bill. In my case, I gave my portion to my brother before I ever officially owned it.  It was a pretty simple process -- I believe I wrote the lawyer a notarized letter saying that I refused my inheritance and wanted my portion to go to my brother instead.  That's all I had to do.  But this was almost 25 years ago, and I never had the deed to the property. (The property was not worth much -- it would have cost me more money and aggravation than the property was worth to hire a realtor and attempt to sell it, plus it would have been messy because it was part of an undivided family lot. It actually did end up getting messy in the end, when years later my brother decided to sell his portion, and the other relatives were very angry about that.)

[Carrie12345]

Just a note, it would probably be illegal for anyone to access the land without an agreement from the owners of the land they’d cross to get there. Even including cell towers unless they obtained some forced easement.

I am surprised by something as small as .16 acres. What a pain to have to deal with!

[Faith-manor]

From what I have read, a tax lien for failure to pay property tax is not reported to credit agencies. I would check that out specifically for WV, but maybe that really is an option, and you can just let the township auction it off when you stop paying. If they can't auction it, it appears that ownership would transfer to the state.

[Pawz4me]

16 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

From what I have read, a tax lien for failure to pay property tax is not reported to credit agencies. I would check that out specifically for WV, but maybe that really is an option, and you can just let the township auction it off when you stop paying. If they can't auction it, it appears that ownership would transfer to the state.

This is also my understanding here in my state. A lien is put on the property for the unpaid taxes. But I don't know how many years the unpaid taxes would be allowed to accrue before the city/county foreclosed and sold the property, or if they would continue to accrue forevermore until the owner tried to sell. Anyway, my guess is it would have no effect at all on an owner's credit score.

[HomeAgain]

Can you possibly donate them to a scouting council?  They might really enjoy getting a wilderness area for consistent use, though an acre is small it might be something they'd be interested in..

[Faith-manor]

2 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

This is also my understanding here in my state. A lien is put on the property for the unpaid taxes. But I don't know how many years the unpaid taxes would be allowed to accrue before the city/county foreclosed and sold the property, or if they would continue to accrue forevermore until the owner tried to sell. Anyway, my guess is it would have no effect at all on an owner's credit score.

In Michigan, it is just 3 years. They don't force the owner to try to sell the property. They simple seize it, and it gets auctioned. It isn't reported to credit agencies. If this is the same in WV, I would be tempted as OP to advise everyone who does not want their parcels to just stop paying the taxes and let it go.

[Ottakee]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

Just a note, it would probably be illegal for anyone to access the land without an agreement from the owners of the land they’d cross to get there. Even including cell towers unless they obtained some forced easement.

I am surprised by something as small as .16 acres. What a pain to have to deal with!

Oh, we have a piece that is even better in South Carolina.  It is in a subdivision and is a triangle 5 feet at the base and 2 sides of 13 feet each……yep….a whole 32 sq ft.   Not really even enough to pitch my tent on.

[Faith-manor]

41 minutes ago, Ottakee said:

Oh, we have a piece that is even better in South Carolina.  It is in a subdivision and is a triangle 5 feet at the base and 2 sides of 13 feet each……yep….a whole 32 sq ft.   Not really even enough to pitch my tent on.

Can you pay someone to put a sign on it that says, "Free to any home!" Or "I will pay you $20 bucks to take this off my hands."

[Ottakee]

20 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Can you pay someone to put a sign on it that says, "Free to any home!" Or "I will pay you $20 bucks to take this off my hands."

We would just have to drive down from Michigan first.

[Carrie12345]

2 hours ago, Ottakee said:

Oh, we have a piece that is even better in South Carolina.  It is in a subdivision and is a triangle 5 feet at the base and 2 sides of 13 feet each……yep….a whole 32 sq ft.   Not really even enough to pitch my tent on.

Call Leslie Knope!!!

[Grace Hopper]

19 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I would try the conservation trust in the area—they are pretty common.  Search on Open Space Trusts and see if you can donate the land.

Or alternatively I would approach local or affiliated community foundations to see whether you can donate it to them.

My guess is that either of these would be more likely to accept it than a realtor or buyer, because they don’t usually pay property taxes, so the carrying costs would be insignificant—they might even have an umbrella real estate liability policy to cover insurance needs already for their existing holdings that would cover this, too.

This is what I’d do after first seeking adjacent property owners to see if they’d be interested in a good deal. 

3 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

Can you possibly donate them to a scouting council?  They might really enjoy getting a wilderness area for consistent use, though an acre is small it might be something they'd be interested in..

This is another good idea, as long as there’s reasonable access to the property. 
 

Our family had an undeveloped tract of marshland. The federal government took it by imminent domain as a conservation area since it was on the route of migratory waterfowl. Which is honestly a convenience for us to not to have to continue to pay taxes on it. 

[Ottakee]

2 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

This is what I’d do after first seeking adjacent property owners to see if they’d be interested in a good deal. 

This is another good idea, as long as there’s reasonable access to the property. 
 

Our family had an undeveloped tract of marshland. The federal government took it by imminent domain as a conservation area since it was on the route of migratory waterfowl. Which is honestly a convenience for us to not to have to continue to pay taxes on it. 

Yes, our issue is that we aren’t sure we have any legal ways to access the land.  
 

I have sent these ideas to my brother to process.

[KungFuPanda]

21 hours ago, Ottakee said:

Braxton and Calhoun if I remember right.  Several pieces ranging from 0.16 acres up to 3 acres or so.  I can look more tomorrow 

Oh wow. That really is the middle of nowhere! People don’t think of WV as a large state until the try to drive it. 

Edited December 12, 2023 by KungFuPanda

[Reefgazer]

The Nature Conservancy would happily take it.

[Grace Hopper]

1 hour ago, Reefgazer said:

The Nature Conservancy would happily take it.

Will they take small parcels like the .16 acre mentioned?

[Ottakee]

Just now, Grace Hopper said:

Will they take small parcels like the .16 acre mentioned?

And pieces that might not have any legal access to it?  

[Lucy the Valiant]

I sit on a conservation commission (nowhere near WV, sadly) that would LOVE to have that land for wildlife corridors. 🙂 (When we purchase land for conservation, it usually involves a much lower price than market rate, comes with "no development" covenants (sometimes; these aren't necessary at all), and is often not legally accessible except to neighboring landowners. I don't know if there's a conservation commission near this property? Or even a statewide one?

[Beth S]

I would just deed it to a neighbor at no cost.  We researched conservation bequeaths (?!?) and we thought the legalities/regulations were very complex.  I think it's better to get your name off of the deed completely.

[Toocrazy!!]

I too think your best bet could be a quitclaim deed to one of the adjacent landowners. I don’t have a lot of experience with those, but if it truly has such little value, it might be a possibility. 
 

Have you tried calling the county assessors office? Maybe they have a suggestion. They could probably tell you if they report tax sales to any credit agencies. 

[Toocrazy!!]

Or maybe this organization can lead you in a better direction- https://www.wvlandtrust.org/protect-your-land/