Paducah, KY

Saturday (yesterday) I attended a couple of auctions. The first one was for a couple of tracts near Mike Smith's new location next to I-24 here in Paducah. The tracts totaled a little over 7 acres in two tracts. Included was a modular home that is being rented for $650 / month (I think). The land in that area is development property. This area is currently home to several hotels, Mike Smith Toyota, Heartland Homes and several other businesses. I understand that Mike Smith paid about $115,000 per acre of his new car lot. These two tracts sold for a mere $50,000 per acre at the auction I attended. The auctioneer didn't appear real happy about the selling price.

The second auction I attended was for a home at 1531 Jefferson St in Paducah. This victorian home was a 4BR, 2 BA home with nearly 2,400 sq ft of living space. The asking price of this home was $96,000 when it was listed with a local brokerage. The home appeared in good condition although one of the upstairs rooms I toured had a severely crooked floor. This home sold for $70,000

The auctioneer didn't appear to be very pleased with either of these auctions. I wonder what his sellers opinions are now that the auction is over. Auctions may lead to an immediate sale of property but the sale amount may be less than what's expected, a trade of sorts.

The auctioneer charged a 10% buyer premium.

On November 24 at 1:30pm the McCracken County Master Commission will hold another monthly auction. The following properties are to be included in this month's round. The auction is held inside the courthouse at the foot of the steps.

• 3141 Broadway (Paducah's old Coke plant), to recover costs of $1,260,802.77
• 201 & 217 Glenn St, to recover costs of $1,002,084.21
• 7260 McNeil-Alsip Road, to recover costs of $167,336.52
• 2902 Clark St, to recover costs of $71,427.83
• 8825 Old Mayfield Road in Boaz, to recover costs $66,720.17
• 2701 Madison St, to recover costs of $46,747.10
• 290 Alben Barkley Dr, to recover costs of $106,069.54
• 1912 Adams St, to recover costs of $46,332.13
• 832 South 5th St, to recover costs of $54,368.15
• 1822 Broad St, to recover costs of $92,523.28
• 3418 Buckner Lane, to recover costs of $124,954.07
• 412 Oaks Road, to recover costs of $23,954.43
• 4250 Contest Road, to recover costs of $9,545.00 and $55,057.48
• 2930 Alabama St, to recover costs of $67,149.62

Many of these auctions may be cancelled due to agreements being reached by the owners and mortgage holders. Payoff of the sale amount is typically expected within 30 days.

Generally, a preview of the property is not permitted as the master commissioner does not have access to the properties. If anyone would like information on any of these properties I might be able to provide a small amount of info. Email or call me with the address of the property.

With today being election day the kids didn't have to go to school - at least for school anyway. Our voting precinct is at the school.

I set the alarm clock to go off at 6:30am so I got to sleep in a few minutes. After getting ready my son and I headed off to cast my vote. My son is 10 and this is the 3rd time he's been with me.

While on the drive over there I told him to keep it quiet while we were in the booth as I didn't need everyone knowing how I was voting. To my surprise he didn't say a word while we were in there except to tell me I had to close the flap while I was making a write in. After we left I asked him how he knew to do that. He said he had heard the others asking the same question and he had heard the precinct workers answer.

Besides the normal races I voted for, I'm interested in seeing what happens to the city of Lone Oak. Will it be dissolved or not? See a previous blog of mine about that issue. Another race is for my representative of county school board. The school board is planning a high school consolidation and most everyone is opposed to it except the school board. Many residents plan to vote them out of office. Unfortunately, the school board plans to move quickly so that even a new school board will have to plan for a consolidation.

The Delta Queen riverboat left Paducah for the last time on Monday, October 27. The riverboat will no longer be allowed to sail the rivers of the midwest due to a refusal by Congress to issue an exemption as has been done since 1966.

In 1966 Congress passed a Safety of Life at Sea Law that forbids the Delta Queen from operating because it is primarily constructed of wood. The current exemption expires on November 1, 2008.

I understand, from people who were at the riverfront watching it leave, that Paducah didn't want to let go. Apparently there was enough of a breeze blowing that it wasn't able to easily leave our riverport.

After I got up this morning I checked the newspaper as I usually do. I always read the online version of the paper as it's easier and cheaper for me. A monthly subscription of the online version is about $5.50 / month.

On the frontpage was an article about tax rates rising while property values have been decreasing. Next to the article was a photo of a home with a Prudential sign in front of it. To my surprise the house was a listing of mine and the sign was mine! Unfortunately, the address of the home was not listed with the photo.

The photo was taken by Lance Dennee of the paducah Sun.