Author: Mackenzie Becker

WALKER – Approximately 100 properties in the city have owed taxes for so long that they could face sale at auction. Mayor Jimmy Watson said CivicSource, a firm the city hired, is working with Walker to get the taxes owed.

CivicSource, of New Orleans, is an auctioneer of tax-distressed real estate. It digitizes due process compliance to ensure valid sales.

“We’re sending out tax notices,” Watson said, “Currently about 100 properties are scheduled for tax sales.”

The properties will go for auction if the taxes are not paid by June, he said. City Clerk Myra Streeter said some of the taxes owed go back 10 years.

The city does not take action until the taxes owed reach $50, she said, and it takes several years with the penalty to build up to $50.

Taxes unpaid after Dec. 31, 2017, add a 1 percent per month penalty until it is paid, according to a city notice.

Taxes that remained unpaid after Jan. 31, accrue collection costs on the first of each month until the online tax sale on June 6, the notice said.

If a property is sold at a tax sale, the owner is subject to losing the homestead exemption. Property sold at tax sale may be redeemed up to three years from the date of the sale, the notice said.

To find if a current tax bill is unpaid, contact city receptionist Mary Poe at (225) 665-4356 at City Hall.

Original article found here: https://www.livingstonparishnews.com/news/walker-targets-properties-for-overdue-taxes/article_90bf88f2-32ae-11e8-80a5-e344046a8eb8.html

A recent effort to tackle neighborhood blight in north Lake Charles has seen real returns over the past year, officials said Thursday, giving hope to longtime residents who want to see their area improve.

About 34 tax-delinquent properties in north Lake Charles have been auctioned off online since the launch of a pilot program in late 2016.

The Lake Charles North Redevelopment Authority spearheaded the program through a partnership with New Orleans-based CivicSource.com, which brings adjudicated properties to market through its online platform.

About 94 properties are on the website, and more should go up later this year, said authority President Kathleen Dorsey Bellow.

Bellow said she was pleased to see nearly three dozen properties find new owners through the process, especially since most buyers are local — about 90 percent of people who buy properties through CivicSource statewide are residents of that area, according to company officials.

“I am encouraged because people who either grew up in the neighborhood or go to church here are buying properties, so it’s people affiliated with the neighborhood,” said Bellow.

Representatives of CivicSource hosted two outreach meetings on Thursday for people interested in learning more about the program. They took residents through the process of ownership, from putting down the $850 deposit to bidding on auction day.

About 20 residents attended the morning session, asking questions about the overall cost and how to navigate the website.

Resident Jerry Adams, who attended the morning session, said he was surprised to learn that properties often go for as little as $5,000-$10,000 — a nominal charge compared with the high cost of real estate on the private market. He said new construction could only be a good thing for the area.

“Anytime the public is offered to buy property in their own neighborhood and community it’s a good thing,” said Darol King, who also attended the meeting.

King, owner of Mariah’s Christian Preschool, said he plans to buy two properties within the year for either a business or housing development. He may consider expanding the preschool if he finds the right property.

“We have to turn so many people away because it’s a needed service,” King said. “If we can find a building I can renovate, boy that would be really nice.”

Beau Buyers, a title agent for CivicSource, said the company usually collects $5,100 of the sale price to cover the cost of legal work, with the remainder going to the city. So far, property sales through CivicSource have brought the city $43,000.

Buyers said this money helps alleviate the financial burden Lake Charles has experienced from years of taking care of tax-delinquent properties — mowing lawns and making sure they were in compliance.

He said on average the properties CivicSource sells have been tax delinquent for over 20 years.

 

Original article published here: http://www.americanpress.com/news/local/online-program-puts-buyers-in-touch-with-tax-delinquent-real/article_d74ee1e4-23c9-11e8-a0b1-4b53eabc686e.html

(BOSSIER CITY, LA) – The City of Bossier has launched a new project in an effort to sell adjudicated property online.

After five years of no payment of property taxes to a city or parish, a property becomes adjudicated. The city or parish then becomes responsible for the upkeep and security of the property.

“Primarily most of our adjudicated property falling in the five or more a year category are vacant lots. And we spent probably $335,000-$340,000 a year and just maintaining those properties,” said Pam Glorioso, Chief Administration Officer in Bossier City.

With the sale of the properties, the city will not have the expense of maintaining the mostly vacant lots. It will ultimately put them back into commerce. Tax dollars will flow back into the city, because someone would then own that property. The new owner would maintain it as a private property and pay property taxes.

The city has contracted a company called Civic Source to sell the real estate online. The city is now preparing to launch that service which is set to roll out this Fall in about 6 to 8 months.

The company’s primary objective is to look at the title of the property then see if it’s a marketable property. At that point the lot can be put up for sale. This company can also write title insurance to the new purchaser to ensure they do have a good title.

Bossier Parish Police Jury also uses Civic Source and they have been successful in using it to sell properties for the parish.

 

Original article published here: https://www.ktbs.com/news/local/new-property-project-in-bossier-city-designed-to-boost-economy/article_cf219176-2395-11e8-b12a-8fe5e8b84ead.html

Bossier City is looking to return abandoned, blighted buildings back into productive use by partnering with a company that will make it easier to sell adjudicated properties.

The Bossier City Council on Tuesday will vote on an ordinance that would allow the city to contract with CivicSource, a New Orleans-based company that will establish and administrate online auctions and sales of the city’s adjudicated properties.

These are properties that have been adjudicated to the city due to non-payment of ad valorem property taxes. According to the draft ordinance, many of these properties remain abandoned and contribute to blight in the area.

“CivicSource is in the business of returning adjudicated properties back into commerce,” Ronnie Harris, director of business development for CivicSource, told the city council at a meeting in January. “We do that in a process where we get information from your assessor, we look at the information to ensure the property is marketable and insurable, and we market it by posting signs, placing it on our website and having an informational session here in your city with potential investors.”

The city says it does not have resources to market and fulfill legal requirements for the sale of these properties, or to offer any warranty of title or title insurance to purchasers of adjudicated properties.

These are services CivicSource can provide, Harris said.

“At the end of the process, it goes to an auction and the successful bidder will obtain title insurance for the properties that have been sold,” Harris said. “CivicSource has married the governmental process with information technology and title insurance, in order to wrap it all up and provide a service for our government clients.”

The city’s goal in entering this process is “to encourage the redemption of these properties, to bring these properties back into commerce and productive use, to return these properties back to the active tax rolls, to stimulate economic development and to increase property tax and other tax revenue,” according to the ordinance.

The Bossier Parish Police Jury entered into a contract with CivicSource in 2015 and continues to use its services today because it has proven to be good for the parish, said Parish Administrator Bill Altimus.

“This partnership is helpful to the parish in that it gives our adjudicated property that is eligible to be sold to a company that does all the necessary legal legwork, which is substantial,” Altimus said. “It’s a turnkey process, and in the end allows the purchaser to obtain good and legal title to that property according to current Louisiana law. This property is now back on the tax rolls and is being maintained by the new purchaser.”

The city believes that this process “will increase the redemptions of adjudicated property and increase the number (of) sales of adjudicated property in the City of Bossier City, thus fostering the goals of returning these properties to commerce and productive use and will provide the buyers of these properties a chance to purchase property with title insurance,” the ordinance states.

The city council will meet 3 p.m. Tuesday at the Bossier City Municipal Complex council chambers, 620 Benton Road.

Original article published here: https://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/2018/02/19/bossier-city-looks-online-auctions-sales-blighted-properties/351094002/