By Larry Riley in the Muncie Star-Press:
Tuesday morning will see 1,503 properties up for auction at a tax sale in the Delaware County Fairgrounds, altogether assessed at $35 million and owing $5.9 million in back taxes and penalties.
The number is down from 1,930 on the list a month ago, but larger than I would have thought. If I’m right, fewer people are settling up, maybe because they walked away from their property permanently.
Or perhaps after several years, circa 2005-07, we had no tax sales because the county itself was in arrears in tax statements, and having caught up the past five years, we’ve found what could be considered the frictional rate for tax delinquencies.
Kind of like the “frictional unemployment” rate that happens even in good economic times because of workers transitioning to other jobs or changes employers make.
The number of delinquent properties is 2.1 percent of all property parcels in Delaware County. The number seems reasonable, I guess, though parcel numbers include every tiny lot.
For example, the tax sale includes 34 parcels valued at $400 or less. And these 34 choice pieces of real estate owe, collectively, $15,800 in back taxes. That’s 200 percent of their combined worth.
Don’t look for many people to be bidding these gems up.
The overall rate of arrearage to assessed value is 16.9 percent, but the ratio drops at the top end.
For example, the 10 most valuable properties by assessment in the tax sale, worth $3.5 million, owe a combined $255,000, or 7 percent of their gross worth.
Those are the types of properties more likely to draw interest from bidders merely looking to make quick money. They’re not interested in owning the properties.
Tuesday’s sale is a “certificate” sale: you’re not actually buying the property, but buying the right to take title to the property after a year if the owner doesn’t “redeem” the property.
Should the property be redeemed, then the buyer won’t take ownership, but will get a high rate of interest on the purchase price.
...
See the full article here:
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013309290026
