Tax-owing property going up for auction
On Tuesday at 10 a.m. at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, close to 300 parcels of tax-delinquent property in Jefferson County will be put up for auction.
The event, normally held annually, did not take place last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Nikki Heck, a spokesperson with the Commissioner of State Lands office, said the auction will happen this year.
“We’ll set up chairs and there will be an auction staff, and they will read the rules and regulations and we’ll get started,” Heck said. “It’s an auction but we don’t do the fast talking. We go through the list parcel by parcel.”
The successful bidder has to pay the first $100 in cash, she said, while the rest can be paid with a money order, certified check or even a credit card.
The owed taxes on the parcels range from around $200 to many thousands. One residence is in arrears by more than $11,000 while more than $125,000 is owed on another piece of property.
The sale is the culmination of several years of Jefferson County and the state attempting to get the owners to pay the back taxes. Heck said that, for the property to make its way to a public auction, the county has tried for two or more years to be paid, and the state has tried an equal amount of time.
Even after someone has successfully bid on a parcel, the original owner has another 10 days to pay the owed taxes and retain possession.
“We try to give the owners as much time as possible to keep their property,” Heck said.
If a property doesn’t sell, Heck said, it is put into a “postauction” list of parcels. From there, people can bid on them throughout the year “like eBay.”
After that point, the new owner is given a limited warranty deed. The next 90 days constitute a “litigation period” during which the original owner or others could come forward and contest the sale. After that period of time has passed, the new owner is urged to get a permanent deed on the property, Heck said.
Those interested in trying to buy a parcel can look on the Commissioner of State Lands website. Counties are listed in the order of the date of the auction, with links to a legal description of the property, the taxes owed and a map of where the property is located.
Properties can range from occupied and unoccupied residences to commercial property and unimproved acreages.
Heck said people can pay the back taxes on a piece of property, and that doing that will remove the property from the auction, but that paying the taxes does not make the property theirs.
As an example, she said a person might want to pay the taxes owed on a piece of property next to their own out of concern for what a new owner might put on the property. But the neighbor would still either have to buy the property from the original owner outright or bid on the property at the auction in order to gain possession, she said.
Another avenue for buying tax-delinquent property is online through the Commission of State Lands website. If a property doesn’t sell, Heck said, it is put into a “post-auction” list of parcels. From there, people can bid on them throughout the year “like eBay,” she said. After the first bid is placed on a parcel, the clock starts ticking with the auction ending on that particular parcel in 30 days.
Such online sales don’t bring in as much money as live auctions, said a news release from State Land Commissioner Tommy Land, but more tax delinquent properties are disposed of through this method.
“By far, most parcels that are certified to us for delinquent taxes are redeemed by their owners,” he said. “But for those that are not redeemed, the auction and post-auction sales process gets them back into active tax status, which benefits everyone. We’re excited about the new online auctions, and I’m looking forward to more people getting involved.”
Even with the information that can be gained online about properties, including satellite images, Heck suggested that interested parties should drive by the property to make sure it’s what they are looking for.
“We recommend that you view the property you’re interested in buying,” she wrote in a news release. “Don’t trespass or break into a building! But drive by to make sure that it’s where and what you’re really interested in buying. You might decide it’s a fixer-upper with great DIY potential – or you might consider it a money pit that you want to avoid.”
The property for sale this year, Heck said, would have been sold last year had there been an auction. But in 2022, the state land office will get caught up.
“Next year, we’ll double up and offer two years of delinquent property,” she said.