[biosurfer1]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

After talking to the assessor, they said I am most certianly NOT responsible for the back taxes. It never made sense to me why I could be responsible for taxes due more than a year before I bought the house. That being said, the taxes are secured to my house, but what most people said are correct, this is why you get title insurance. It was a foreclosure, and the taxes that were not paid by the original owner, so it has actually gone through 2 owners and they are still not paid (the bank, then me).

911 Rob: thanks for the advice, but I think you're way off here. First off, maybe I should have checked into back taxes before I bought, but this was my first house, and there are an unlimited amount of things one should check before you buy that there is just not time/money for...hindsight is 20/20. Isn't this the reason you have a title/escrow company, so they can find these things, what good are they if when they miss something its not their fault!?!? Also, it is state law that the title of a property must be clear of liens (back taxes) at the time of transfer, unless its expressly written into the contract. The bank could have gone after original owner for the taxes, but I guess they figure if they couldnt pay the mortgage, they didnt have the tax money. I assume if the bank had the house long enough, they would have paid them. Title insurance will be on the hook for mine since they didnt catch it, and they have the option of recovering them from the bank.

Toby: I just got your message, I will try and call you tomorrow and talk, I'm out of town right now.

I'll update once I talk with the regional manager...we'll go from there.