Securities Mortg. Co. v. Commissioner

58 T.C. 667, 1972 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 85
CourtUnited States Tax Court
DecidedJuly 24, 1972
DocketDocket No. 5153-69
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 58 T.C. 667 (Securities Mortg. Co. v. Commissioner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Securities Mortg. Co. v. Commissioner, 58 T.C. 667, 1972 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 85 (tax 1972).

Opinion

Simpson, Judge:

The respondent determined a deficiency of $175,620 in the petitioner’s Federal income tax for the year ending November 30,1966. The issues to be decided are whether a mortgagee may deduct its loss on the foreclosure of property in the year of the foreclosure sale or in the year in which the redemption rights expire, what burden is placed on the mortgagee to prove the fair market value of property acquired at the foreclosure sale, and what formula is to be used to determine the fair market value of an incomplete apartment project.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Some of the facts have been stipulated, and those facts are so found.

The petitioner, Securities Mortgage Co., had its principal place of business in Seattle, Wash., at the time of the filing of its petition in this case. It filed its Federal corporate income tax return for the year ending November 30, 1966, with the district director of internal revenue, Tacoma, Wash. A taxable or fiscal year of the petitioner will be identified by the calendar year in which it ends.

The petitioner was a Washington corporation engaged in the mortgage loan business. As part of that business, it made construction loans to apartment builders and received interest-bearing notes and mortgages on the apartments and the land on which the apartments were being built as security. In 1966, two such mortgages were foreclosed, and the properties were sold at sheriff’s sales. At one sale, the uncompleted Tacoma Mall Apartments (Tacoma Mall) were sold to a nominee of the petitioner, and at the other, the uncompleted Terri Ann Apartments (Terri Ann) were sold directly to the petitioner. In 1967, the petitioner was liquidated, and its assets transferred to a subsidiary of the Seattle First National Bank.

The petitioner first became involved with Tacoma Mall in 1962 when it agreed to loan to the Alpine Development Co., Inc. (Alpine), $350,-000 for the construction of a 48-unit apartment complex. As security for the advances- to be made under the loan, the petitioner received a note for $350,000 and a mortgage. The note was signed by Alpine and the three principal shareholders of Alpine and their wives individually, and the mortgaged property, in its completed state, was expected to have a value of $560,000. The loan was payable in full on August 1, 1963, and was in default on and after that date.

On August 29, 1963, the petitioner discontinued making advances because it had become apparent that Alpine was in financial difficulty. As of that date, the petitioner had advanced approximately $260,000 of the $350,000 loan; $50,000 had been advanced for the purchase of the land on which Tacoma Mall was to be constructed; approximately $20,000, to clear title, to pay fees, commissions, and insurance premiums ; and $190,500, for the purpose of construction. Some part of these advances was diverted from Tacoma Mall to another project which Alpine was developing, and $15,000 of the $50,000 purchase price of the land was never paid by Alpine. At the time that the advances were discontinued, the site had been cleared and prepared, and approximately 25 percent of the physical building completed.

During the period from August 29, 1963, to November 1964, the Tacoma Mall buildings remained exposed to the elements and suffered damages. On November 10, 1964, Alpine contracted with the Budy Simone Construction Co., Inc. (Simone), regarding the performance of work which would weatherproof the 40 units which had been erected. On the same day, the balance of the $350,000 loan, or $84,336.49, was placed in escrow by the petitioner to pay Simone for its work.

Mr. Simone had inspected the buildings, found them to be in poor ' condition, and had consulted both a structural engineer and a testing laboratory. Following the recommendations of the engineer and the testing laboratory, Simone finished the roof, framed and added doors, installed windows, added the brick facing and stucco exterior to the buildings, and generally weatherproofed the buildings. About 20 to 25 percent of the approximately $80,000 paid to Simone was spent to correct defects in construction and to remove or repair damage on account of weather. In January 1965, Mr. Simone estimated that it would cost $231,000 to complete Tacoma Mall as a 40-unit complex. However, no other work was done on Tacoma Mall until after the sheriff’s sale in 1966.

On April 21,1965, the petitioner borrowed $250,000 from Alex Shul-man and gave the Tacoma Mall mortgage and note as security. On May 5, 1965, Mr. Shulman, acting as the nominee of the petitioner, brought suit to foreclose the mortgage, and on February 14, 1966, judgment was awarded to him in the amount of $348,166.99 plus interest, costs, and fees. On April 15, 1966, Tacoma Mall was sold at a sheriff’s sale to Mr. Shulman, the only bidder, for $435,871.69.

At the time of the sheriff’s sale, the petitioner’s claim against Alpine amounted to $460,622.69. It wished to secure a deficiency judgment against Alpine and its shareholders in order to secure their cooperation with respect to such matters as redemption rights, and for that reason, it did not bid the entire amount of its claim at the foreclosure sale— it left $24,751 for which it secured a deficiency judgment. Under Washington law, a mortgagee in possession of property secured at a foreclosure sale is not entitled to reimbursement for the costs of improvements which it makes on the property, and since it appeared that the petitioner might have to complete Tacoma Mall, it decided to bid the entire amount of its remaining claim against Alpine at the foreclosure sale in order to protect its interest in the expected work on the buddings. Under Washington law, the petitioner acquired a lien on Tacoma Mall, not legal title, as a result of its purchase at the sheriff’s sale.

. The judgment and decree of foreclosure listed nine redemptioners and the period of redemption extended until April 1967. The judgments held by the redemptioners ranged in amount from $200 to $25,000. Three of the redemptioners (Metropolitan Mortgage Co., Inc., Fisher Construction Co., and George Scofield Co.) affirmatively decided not to exercise their rights. Three others redemptioners (Freda M. Quesnel, Louise F. Shaffrath, and Properties Unlimited, Inc.) had limited financial resources and could not have raised the over $450,000 required to redeem the Tacoma Mall property. Another redemptioner did not understand the nature of his redemption rights but would not have paid $450,000 to exercise them. Finally, two redemptioners, Alpine and Bunce Bental, Inc., transferred their rights to affiliates of the petitioner. The majority shareholders of Alpine sold 75 percent of Alpine’s stock to the petitioner in exchange for a reduction of the deficiency judgment against them in the amount of $10,000; thereafter, Alpine executed and delivered to Investors Insurance Agency, Inc., a quitclaim deed of all its interest in Tacoma Mall. Bunce Bental, Inc., assigned its judgment to the Homestead Co. That company notified the sheriff of its intention to redeem the property, but it never perfected the redemption. All of the stock of both the Investors Insurance Agency, Inc., and the Homestead Co. was owned by the same shareholders as owned all of the stock of the petitioner.

Following the sheriff’s sale, the petitioner offered the property for sale in its unfinished state for approximately $300,000.

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Securities Mortg. Co. v. Commissioner
58 T.C. 667 (U.S. Tax Court, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 T.C. 667, 1972 U.S. Tax Ct. LEXIS 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/securities-mortg-co-v-commissioner-tax-1972.