Justin Tate

Heritage Home Solutions, LLC in Albuquerque, NM

Justin Tate with Jenna Tate

When I first noticed this property it was boarded up, the landscape was overgrown and it was clearly in distress. rnFor 6-months I tried reaching out to the owner by sending out letters but I never received a response. I later found owner had dementia and their caretaker was throwing out my letters because she thought it was junk mail. rnThe property was listed on the MLS and after a total of 4 listings and bidding situations we finally had our offer accepted. rnThe City had numerous code violations against the property (such as broken windows, tall weeds, no water, and no electricity [because the meters had been pulled], etc...), which we knew about when we bought it. Associated with these violations, the City had about $85 in outstanding fees and liened the property. I tried to pay the fees to clear the lien, but the City insisted that paying the monetary fees alone was not sufficient and we had to actually get the physical work associated with the violations completed. The problem with that was the issue of no electricity and no water meant that I had to re-wire and re-plumb the entire house compliant to code in order to get the meters to reset, which meant I had to have the majority of the rehab done. I spoke with the City Manager after I had been stonewalled by lower level City officials, but he held firm with their decision to keep the lien in place. This all ultimately led to us having to carry the cost of the entire purchase and rehab out of our own pockets.rn