Category: Information Sessions

About a dozen potential buyers attended an informational meeting on the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury’s new program to sell adjudicated — or “tax sale” — properties on its books.

At this time, there are five sites listed on the CivicSource website seeking potential bidders. One of the five has attracted at least one interested party who has put up an $850 deposit to get the process moving. That parcel is on Boggy Bayou Road near Marksville.

Beau Byers, a real estate attorney with CivicSource, said the company was created following Hurricane Katrina when many property owners in the New Orleans area abandoned their storm-damaged homes.

CivicSource helped to track down property owners to pursue tax payments and to help taxing authorities sell the abandoned properties. The company now helps parish and municipal governments around Louisiana and in a few other states to sell adjudicated properties and return them to the tax rolls.

Police Jury President Charles Jones said the parish “just wants to dispose of our adjudicated property. We want to stop having to cut the grass on these little lots around the parish and return the property to the tax rolls.”

Byers said adjudicated properties are those parcels that did not sell at a sheriff’s tax sale for five years and the taxes are still delinquent. At that time, the properties are turned over to the parish to manage. The five Avoyelles Parish properties have all been under Police Jury control for at least 10 years.

Byers said CivicSource sells title insurance with each piece of property it sells. That ensures the buyer has clear title to the property and that a long-lost heir won’t show up and stake a claim to the property. CivicSource tracks down all known heirs as part of its pre-auction work.

FIGHTS BLIGHT & CRIME

Abandoned houses not only look bad but can attract illegal activities, Byers said. For that reason, this program not only returns property to commerce and removes a cost and responsibility from the local government, it also fights blight and crime.

The average starting cost of a piece of property is $4,800, Byers said. That cost has little to do with the size of the parcel or its market value. It reflects the cost of tracking down heirs and completing all necessary paperwork for the sale.

Before a property is put up for auction, it has to be “nominated” by a potential buyer who is willing to submit an $850 deposit. If that person wins the auction, the deposit is applied toward the final cost. If he loses, the deposit is refunded. If he or any other bidder does not bid at least enough to cover all closing costs, he forfeits the deposit and can be banned from participating in future auctions.

CivicSource Investor Relations Manager Madelyn Duran said the Police Jury has 70 potential parcels of property to put up for auction.

The process takes about three months from the time a deposit is submitted to put the property up for auction to the day of the online auction. Most of that time is legally mandated waiting periods to give potential heirs time to respond.

Should an heir come forward with an interest to retain the property, they would be given an opportunity to redeem the property. If that happens, the deposit will be returned to the potential bidder.

Byers said the property still technically belongs to the previous owner. The parish merely maintains it. However, once the process is finished the previous owner and/or heirs relinquish all rights to the property.

If a parcel with closing costs of $4,800 is sold for a high bid of $10,000, the additional $5,200 would go to the Police Jury. If the closing costs are $4,800 and only one person bids that amount, then the property is essentially purchased for $0 plus closing costs, which is paid to CivicSource.

TITLE INSURANCE

“Title insurance allows you to get a mortgage or a loan to improve that property,” Byers said.

“The property may not seem like it is worth the closing costs of, on average, $4,800,” Duran said. “The investor is not necessarily looking at what that property is worth now, in its current condition, but what it will be worth once improvements are made to it in the future.”

Those interested in participating can go to civicsource.com and click on the adjudicated property tab to view available properties in not only Avoyelles but surrounding parishes.

Adjoining landowners who have maintained the adjudicated parcel for at least a year — such as mow the grass — can purchase the property for the closing costs only and would not have to compete for the property at auction.

Police Juror Marsha Wiley, who is heading the jury’s program, said she was pleased with the interest shown in the meeting.
“This is a way to get property back into the hands of the public and receive taxes for the parish,” she said. “These properties have been off the tax books for at least 10 years. It’s time to do something with them.”

Article originally published here: https://www.avoyellestoday.com/news/avoyelles-police-jury-%E2%80%98tax-sale-property%E2%80%99-meeting-generates-interest

For more than 10 years, five parcels of land have sat idle as property of the Avoyelles Parish Police Jury, waiting to be useful again.

The beginning of the end of that wait may be at hand with an informational meeting on how to purchase “tax-adjudicated” real estate, set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday (Aug. 24) at the LSU AgCenter on La. Hwy 1 in Mansura.

The parish has made no use of these tracts and no taxes have been paid to those government entities receiving property taxes for a decade. The Police Jury is making these parcels its first group to be sold because of the length of time since the original owners lost their possession rights.

Earlier this year the Police Jury decided to address the problem of returning “adjudicated property” to the tax rolls by selling them to interested buyers. Representatives of the Assessor’s Office, Sheriff’s Office Tax Division, District Attorney’s Office and Police Jury worked together to research possible options.

The result of that work was a recommendation to hire CivicSource, a New Orleans-based company specializing in online auctions for “tax-distressed real estate.”

In short, Civic Source researches the title and does all the “heavy lifting” to prepare to sell a property that was obtained by a government due to non-payment of taxes.

The Thursday meeting will explain the process to the public and describe the properties going up for auction.

The meeting is open to the public and free of charge. To RSVP, visit events.CivicSource. com. Registration is recommended but not required.

Police Juror Marsha Wiley is heading the jury’s efforts to return tax sale properties to the tax rolls.

‘WIN-WIN SITUATION

“This is a win-win situation for everyone involved,” Wiley said. “The parish gets rid of property that has just been sitting on the books for over 10 years and the buyer gets a piece of property with clear title. This means abandoned properties that have been maintained by the parish for years will be back on the tax rolls and no longer a burden on taxpayers,” she added.

Wiley said she is especially grateful to Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Gaspard, who has worked with adjudicated properties in the past and provided a wealth of legal expertise to ensure the parish was not stepping out on unstable legal ground.

She said CivicSource “does this for a living. They are doing this in other parishes across the state. They do all the legwork, contact all the heirs, etc., and makes sure there is clear title to the property so the buyer does not have to worry about the original owner coming back and reclaiming the property.”

CivicSource conducts adjudicated property auctions in 50 parishes and municipalities in the state, as well as many other out-of-state taxing authorities.

All properties in the auction will have gone unsold in a tax sale and not been redeemed by the original owners. CivicSource ensures all owners, heirs and interested persons affiliated with a tax-delinquent property have been properly notified and given ample opportunity to redeem the property before it qualifies for one of its adjudicated property auctions, a CivicSource spokesperson said.

The five parcels to be discussed are 716 Branch St. in Simmesport and four lots in or near Marksville — one on Boggy Bayou Road, one off Ferdinand Street, one near Deanna Drive and one on Brouillette Street.

$4,800 AVERAGE COST

The auction price for a piece of property begins at $0 plus closing costs. Closing costs vary, but CivicSource spokesperson Molly Richard said the average is $4,800. That includes all of the legal fees involved in obtaining clear title to the property. The past taxes on the property are not included in the closing costs, she said.

The final price of a property depends on the bidders. The Police Jury would receive anything in addition to the closing costs. For example, if closing costs were $4,800 and the high bid was $5,000, CivicSource would receive $4,800 and the parish would receive $200. If the high bid was $10,000, CivicSource would get $4,800 and the parish would get $5,200.
CivicSource’s payment is included in the closing costs. The company does not get paid a commission or percentage of the bid price.

For a property to be placed on the list for auction and for CivicSource to begin its research to prepare it for sale, an interested buyer must make an $850 deposit. That ensures there is at least one person bidding on the property.

If that bidder loses the auction, he gets his deposit back. If he wins, the deposit is applied to the final auction price. If he decides not to bid, he forfeits the deposit. Once a pool of interested buyers has been trained in CivicSource’s process, the technology-driven property auction will occur online at CivicSource.com.

Bidders will be able to research the properties and participate in the auction from anywhere with internet access.