Liens on property - effect?

On Mar 12, 6:40 am, "Stuart A. Bronstein" <spamt...@lexregia.com> wrote:
> "CAS" <2carolinesem...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > How does this affect my property?
>
> An abstract of judgment is a lien, though by itself it really does
> nothing.  But when you go to sell or refinance the property the lien
> will be paid off first before you get anything.

Right; and, may I add, in all states AFAIK a judgment lien also accrues post-judgment interest from the date of the judgment, which also must be paid off along with the principal amount, before OP will see a penny from the sale.

In many states, MD frex (10%), the legal rate of post-judgment interest is substantially higher than the going rate for loans on the open market; so many judgment lienholders are content to just sit on their investment until the debtor decides to sell, doing nothing apart from recording the judgment with the public land records so the judgment becomes a.lien on the debtor's property.

> It is possible for the sheriff to sell the property to pay the
> judgment, but that is difficult to do and is therefore unlikely to
> happen.

If the lienholder is desperate to get cash quickly, they may well go ahead and do that despite the difficulty.   Or they will sell the lien to a finance company or collection agency, usually at a substantial discount, which will then wait patiently until OP sells or transfers the property to collect their lien, plus interest.

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