[harryh]

I'm sympathetic to the idea that rich people are being treated differently here. That's almost certainly the case. It's also, of course, always fun to see a bunch of rich folks get some kind of comeuppance.

But, to me, it's also pretty clear that the original owners were in the right here. You shouldn't be able to lose something worth $90,000 because of a small administrative oversight without some kind of notice from the government about what is going on. The world shouldn't work that way for anyone, rich or poor.

[phil21]

> The world shouldn't work that way for anyone, rich or poor.

But it does. These types of "investors" exist in all markets, and they are about the real estate equvilant of shady debt collectors.

They buy properties that have delinquent taxes and once the city sells you it there are "no backsies" - the homeowner/whomever needs to now deal with the "investors" that bought the property from under them.

It's extremely common that those who owe those back taxes had no idea - or at least they claim so. That's never a defense I've seen hold up.

The problem is that the rich aren't paying the piper this time, and then changing the way things work. They are simply saying "eh, obviously that's wrong! fix it!" while completely ignoring the thousands of people affected in exactly the same manner each year.

[harryh]

Why is your solution to the problem making sure that everyone gets screwed rather than no one gets screwed?

[phil21]

That's not the solution. That's the bit that gets a real solution in place.

The current status quo is "you're screwed if you are not rich and/or politically connected, but it's not a big deal if you know people" - so absolutely nothing will change.

You must make "important" people feel the same pain as the little people or they will never care enough to take any amount of action.

[fredophile]

Probably because it's better than "everyone that isn't rich gets screwed" which is the current situation.

[chrismcb]

But... They were given notice. Notice was sent to the record on file. What more do you want the government to do?

[ryanackley]

I don't think it's a comeuppance. More of a lack of empathy.

If you didn't receive a tax bill for your house one year. Would you just figure that you didn't owe taxes that year? Probably not, there is a minimum level of adult responsibility required to own property. Part of that is paying your taxes.

It being mailed to the wrong address is irrelevant. The HOA most likely had officers that didn't get the address changed at some point. Doesn't matter that it was 17 years ago.

[geebee]

This was a situation where a speculator saw an opportunity to get rich off an oversight, and it didn't work out. Hard to be too sorrowful about that.

Wouldn't mind seeing more of a penalty for the rich landowners, though.