05-10-2019, 04:05 PM
(05-10-2019, 03:34 PM)jeffster Wrote:(05-10-2019, 08:48 AM)Rainrider22 Wrote: They sold it back to the same owner at something like 30 cents on the dollar....maybe less I cant remember. Just a terrible situation...
If I recall, the city sold the property to the highest bidder. I think 1 bid was made, and it was made by the previous owner.
I believe that the property likely has negative value -- though obviously the owner believes that they'll get back more than they paid out. What a mess, though.
sadly this is incorrect. The city was required by some archaic law that basically the previous owner had first right of refusal if they could match the tax sale price. The idea being that if an owner suddenly was able to pay their debt in arrears they could get their property back.
The reality is the guy apparently went and told people willing to pay the city MORE money that he would buy it at the listed price and then flip it to them. Some of those developers agreed. Because they would automatically lose out on any bid they made anyway.
At the design charrete there was a ton of interested buyers. But this guy basically held the city at ransom. They list too low and he would swoop in pay back the debt and then flip it for significantly more. They list too high and no one pays the city. They had to get it just right. They got it wrong and went too low (although apparently there is talk that some of the interested developers might have also scammed the guy).
All of this comes because of a weird legal reality that this "tax-sale" becomes. We have protected him with private property and he has abused them. I highly doubt that the Spylo's will actually tear down the building at this point. They probably figure they can go through the same Tax sale loophole again unless some overly generous developer comes in with a big bid. But even that feels like slime. Because frankly. You are paying this absolute scammer.
Hence why I think this story should be massive. It should be posted everywhere about how broken our property, zoning, capitalism and city planning is. Well intentioned laws are being abused for personal gain at the expense of every citizen. $800,000 is not chump change. If this demolition joins this massive tax arrears he will be taking even more. Not to mention that I imagine he is getting some massive discount on his taxes because this thing is empty. While he drives around in a sportscar. It makes me sick.
Because of the Tax issues too the city can't expropriate the land either. they have the next month to do so but how awful would that look. Sell it for 457,000 and then buy it back from 650,000. While losing 800,000 in between. We're so screwed on this...