The Advocate staff report
East Baton Ropuge holds auctions the first Wednesday of each month to sell property seized when the owners did not pay their taxes.
A number of properties are up for auction on Wednesday, Sept. 7, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Click here to see a map of available properties. Click here to see in list form.
In February the city owned about 2,000 tax adjudicated properties, many abandoned and blighted. That month, the city partnered with CivicSource, a New Orleans-based company that allows prospective buyers to place their bids online.
By law, the government can hold an auction once someone puts down a deposit, typically $850. The city then advertises the sale, puts it on the block and sells it to the highest bidder.
The winning bid covers the price of the title, closing cost and title insurance. The person who pays the deposit gets the money back if he or she doesn’t win the auction.