GOSHEN—Orange County held a countywide property auction on Sept. 29 and 30, which the county benefited by putting foreclosed property back on the tax rolls.
There were 128 properties from 2016 and 280 properties leftover from previous years, some dating back to the 1990s.
All told, the county made a profit of $917,869 when the back taxes owed on the 2016 parcels, worth $802,581, are subtracted.
The Sept. 30 session saw the remaining pieces of property go up for auction to bidders both in the audience and online.
By the end there were 59 individual properties, and one multi-parcel unit containing 32 parcels, leftover from 2016.
This auction offered technological improvements over previous auctions by the county. NYSAuctions.com hosted the auction and handled all the bidding, transactions, and logistical matters.
“This is the first time we’ve ever used an outside company,” said the county’s Director of Real Property, John McCarey. “That was a good move because they were able to take credit cards, they were able to have internet bidding and everything else.”
“I think we had a good number of buyers come out.”
There were 408 parcels up for auction this year, compared to about 150 to 170 the county normally sells.
“It’s good to get some of them off and back, having residents pay taxes on them instead of the county sitting on them,” said County Commissioner of Finance Karin Hablow.
First-time property buyer Rey David Virgin was both excited and scared about the auction experience. He was excited to finally own land, but scared about the associated risks that comes with property ownership.
“Definitely I’m tired of renting and I want to have my own property,” he said.
Altogether 161 parcels of land from previous years received bids. The county will get $612,450 once those transactions are finalized.
Properties in which bids did not meet or exceed outstanding real property taxes will stay with the county.
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