Land Foreclosures in Detroit to be Auctioned Off
October 5th, 2009 by 
sharon
Land foreclosures in Detroit will be auctioned off by Wayne County tax officials this October. According to Terrance Keith, deputy treasurer of Wayne County, the number of tax delinquent and tax foreclosed properties throughout the county has risen to nearly 9,000 properties from only about 2,000 properties in 2007 and majority of the properties are vacant lots.
The large number of vacant lands in the October auction, according to housing analysts and community planners, is another indication of the growing vacant-land problem in Detroit. Based on data from the U.S. Postal Service, approximately 17 percent of addresses in Detroit are vacant lots. There are also other vacant lots across Detroit which are no longer in the postal service database.
Because of the record number of properties to be auctioned off, officials expect the auction to last for three days.
The scheduled auction, however, is being criticized by community activists and planners as an unsound way to solve the problem of tax delinquencies, foreclosures and vacant lands.
They insisted that tax foreclosures and auctions make the vacant-land problem worse as speculators are the ones typically winning at auctions.
Margaret Dewar, urban planning professor at the University of Michigan, said that majority of buyers of land foreclosures at auctions are speculators that buy the properties at cheap prices and then flip them for quick profits without considering the effects of their investment decisions on the community.
Dewar said that more deserving organizations such as nonprofits and long-time residents conscious of community development should be given the chance to buy the vacant lands.
Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County where the city of Flint is located, affirmed what Dewar said. He explained that it is difficult for responsible community investors to win foreclosure auctions. Kildee heads the Genesee County Land Bank, which makes sure that tax delinquent and tax-foreclosed lands are sold parcel by parcel on a negotiated basis, eliminating speculators.
Wayne County deputy treasurer Keith agreed with Dewar and Kildee that the auction process is not the best method of selling tax delinquent properties, but he explained that it is the process outlined by state law. It is also the process being used by most counties in Michigan.
According to Keith, what he wants is a change in state law that helps property owners keep their properties from becoming land foreclosures and thereby prevent foreclosure auctions that transfer properties to speculative investors.
