Stone Ridge, NY - 2008 Ulster County Tax Auction

The 2008 Ulster County Tax Auction will be held on April 17, 2008 at 9:30am.

For those that have never been to a real estate tax auction, here is a little background:

The auction is one day only and the houses that are up for auction have been delinquent in there school, general or both taxes. The County lists the property address, type, taxes owed, etc., and the amount owed on taxes is the starting bid.

SAVED BY THE BELL - The owner of the property can redeem the property by paying all taxes and fees up to the moment it is on the auction block, and may even do so beyond that point. Further details are provided at the Ulster County Tax Auction

When you see the extensive list of properties you may think you have some great options, but I've been to these auctions for several years and, at times, have not been able to purchase anything. Most of the good propeties get redeemed by the owner prior to auction, or the owners have been contacted by a third party and have worked out a deal for the property's redemption.

OPPORTUNITY WITH RESPECT - While purchasing a property at a tax auction can be a great opportunity to find an affordable investment, realize that for every opportunity made there is someone who has lost. It's important to do your due diligence with respect to the various properties, but it is not okay to trespass and infringe on another's right to privacy.

LEMONS - Oh there are a lot of lemons on the table. At the Ulster County Tax Auction, you should note that for 2008, the newest properties on the auction block have tax issues from 2005. You will also see properties with tax issues from 2004, 2003, 2000, 1998, etc. This means they have been on the auction block since that date and have appeared in every subsequent year. I personally don't deal with any properties that have been on longer than the current year. It's too risky for my blood and there are too many opportunities to dwell in that muck.

DUE DILIGENCE - I know I mentioned this before, BUT everytime I attend I see folks with big buck stars in their eyes and know absolutely nothing about the property. It's often difficult to get title insurance on a tax auction property and in that, not always easy to flip. Some of my buyers have purchased, rented, acquired title insurance and then sold, which has worked well. I have known buyers to hold a property for up to two years or more. So keep that in mind. Additionally,some of the properties are not so easy to find. My team found a house that was perfect and we won the bid at the auction. Later we found we were at the neigboring house, and what we purchased was not what we THOUGHT we purchased. We backed out and lost our deposit. The twisty turny back roads of Ulster County can be deceiving!

Have fun at the auction and let me know if you want to look at some on an Adventure in Auctions!

Cree

QUIMBY THEATRE, VANDERLYN HALL

ULSTER COUNTY COMMUNITY

COLLEGE, STONE RIDGE, NEW YORK

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