[ad_1]
EDWARDSVILLE — Weeds, boarded-up windows, structural damage, half of the roof gone and all ready for immediate possession — welcome to Madison County’s largest annual real estate auction, which ended Friday, Dec. 1.
A total of 685 properties were listed on the online auction block but many of these properties had some issues that kept them from meeting the $820 minimum required bid, an amount which only covers the county’s legal and recording fees.
“Some of these properties are not worth even the minimum bid,” said Madison County Treasurer Chris Slusser. “Some people think, ‘I ought to go to that auction to find some good properties,’ but you’re probably not going to find good properties at that auction unless you get really lucky.”
The just-concluded sale, the annual Surplus Property Auction, is the culmination of an approximately three-year process that allows the county to sell land and structures where the property taxes are unpaid, the owner of record has been uncommunicative, and no one has stepped forward to pay the delinquent taxes.
The number of properties sold and the amount recouped for Madison County taxing districts from the Dec. 1 sale will be known within a few weeks.
The same auction in December 2022 raised $405,000 for 182 properties sold.
It may not seem like a lot of money for that many real estate transactions, but Slusser said there’s usually a reason why these properties are a hard sell.
“It might be an adjacent lot to someone else’s property and you can’t build on it, or it’s a ditch, it’s been condemned, it’s been partially burned down, or there are some environmental issues with the property,” Slusser said. “Some of them are halfway decent houses that need to be rehabbed, but it’s usually something that’s going to need a lot of work.”
Starts with delinquent taxes
The Surplus Property Auction process begins in February of each year when property taxes that haven’t been paid the previous year are offered for sale at a delinquent tax auction.
This is a separate sale authorized by statute during which registered tax buyers can pay the delinquent tax on a property. If a buyer pays those taxes, he or she has the first right to take deed to that property if the owner or a representative does not pay those delinquent taxes within a three-year period.
If someone is living in the property in question, often those tax buyers will make an arrangement where the resident will pay rent to the tax buyer, Slusser said.
But there are always properties that no one wants to purchase during the delinquent tax sale, and those are the ones that enter into the Surplus Property Auction process. By law the county can take deed to those properties after three years if the taxes are not redeemed.
Any liens will be dealt with so the county can obtain a clear title, and then the properties are offered for sale in early December to anyone willing to pay at least the minimum bid.
‘Every opportunity’
The Surplus Property Auction process is handled by Joseph E. Meyer & Associates of Edwardsville, a firm that acts as a trustee for the Madison County Board.
The local firm performs similar services for 95 Illinois counties and it is their primary business. They are paid through auction commission fees and do not bill the counties for the service.
“Since the county is trying to collect taxes, we are trying to get the taxes paid and have the person keep their property. The last thing we want to do is take the property but sometimes you’re just dealing with an abandoned piece of property,” said Whitney Strohmeyer of Joseph E. Meyer & Associates. “The owner might be deceased and has no descendants, or the descendants are not interested in paying the tax and keeping the property and they literally walk away from it.”
Strohmeyer said that sometimes an adjoining neighbor or a municipality will indicate an interest in acquiring a property that is to be auctioned, and his firm will work with those neighbors and local governments to make that happen.
Sometimes the firm will bundle several adjacent properties together to make them more attractive to buyers. The goal is always to get the properties back on the tax rolls, not to wrest them from the hands of their current owners.
“We try to give people every opportunity to pay,” Strohmeyer said. “During the auction if someone calls us and says ‘hey, I don’t want to lose my property,’ as long as they put 20 percent down toward the delinquent taxes we will pull it from the auction, reject any bids that were received, and work with them to get the taxes paid and keep the property.”
If Joseph E. Meyer & Associates is able to get the delinquent taxes paid before a property is auctioned, the tax revenues owed go to the county and the firm is compensated by the statutory penalty amount added to the delinquent taxes.
The company also has a contract with Madison and 70 other Illinois counties to automate the yearly delinquent tax sale process, a service for which the counties pay a set amount.
There are always properties that do not sell for the minimum required bid, and those remain for sale online throughout the year until they are added to the list of available properties during the next Surplus Property Auction.
‘Unforgiving process’
Treasurer Slusser said the delinquent tax sale process is legal and fair, but the Surplus Property Auction process has some unfair provisions. In certain cases, property owners who have had recent difficulties can lose all of the equity in their homes.
“Let’s say you had a property that was paid off, you owned it, but you fell on hard times and you were unable to pay the taxes,” Slusser said. “You may lose a $100,000 property that you owe no money on because you owe $8,000 that you are unable to pay on your taxes.
“That’s a very unforgiving process.”
Slusser said help may be on the way from the recent U.S. Supreme Court Tyler vs. Hennepin County, Minnesota, decision that came down in 2023. That unanimous decision ruled that the tax deed process used by many states, including Illinois, was unconstitutional.
Slusser and other county treasurers in the state are waiting to see how the Illinois General Assembly will act on the Supreme Court decision.
“It’s a complicated process and hopefully the legislature is going to get into compliance with the Supreme Court decision soon,” Slusser said. “I’ve had conversations with a couple of local legislators and they have expressed interest.
“I hope something will get rolling here in January to get passed in the spring session. They are going to have to pass something.”
[ad_2]
This article was originally published by a www.thetelegraph.com . Read the Original article here. .