An annual foreclosure sale resulted in six of 15 foreclosed Alpena County parcels being sold.
County Treasurer Joelyn McCallum said six properties sold for a total of $69,200 during the sale in Gaylord on Saturday. She said she needed to make $63,000 to regain money lost from delinquent taxes and foreclosure costs.
"That's all that county treasurers around the state are really after," McCallum said.
The sale is the result of owners not paying taxes in 2005. McCallum said there is a one-year grace period to catch up on payments before the taxes are considered delinquent. When the taxes still weren't paid by March 1, 2007, McCallum began forfeiture proceedings.
The county took possession of the properties March 31, 2008, after owners had been notified several times via certified mailings and telephone calls.
"We do everything in our power to make sure they're aware they're going to lose their (property)," McCallum said.
Five of the six parcels that sold on Saturday had buildings on them, including a parcel with an old general store in Hubbard Lake.
The nine parcels that did not sell were all vacant.
Originally 18 properties were up for bid, but two were confiscated by the Internal Revenue Service, and the owner of another was granted a payment extension in circuit court.
On Saturday, the minimum bid for the parcels was set at the amount of delinquent taxes. The parcels that did not sell will go to a scavenger sale, where bidding starts at $50 and the winning bidder does not have to pay special assessments or delinquent taxes.
McCallum said it's hard to predict how much money will be made at scavenger sales.
"It just depends if the right buyer comes around at the right time," she said.
She is hoping the nine remaining Alpena County properties sell during the scavenger sale, which does not have a date set, or else she has to put them on next year's auction or sell them outright herself.
"I really don't want to become a real estate salesman," she said.
Alpena, Alcona, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet, Montmorency, Otsego and Presque Isle counties hold their first sale and scavenger sale together.
The eight counties had 182 parcels for sale Saturday, and sold 120 of them for $638,100.
McCallum said the sale was average regarding the number of properties and the amount of money recovered, but she saw things this year that may be a sign of things to come.
The county had to ask families living in two of the properties to leave before the property was sold, something that doesn't usually have to happen.
"That's just not happened since 1999," McCallum said. "That's the first time I really had to go knock on somebody's door."
She said she has seen banks let the county foreclose before doing so themselves, which she said is also uncommon.
Usually properties with mortgages will be foreclosed upon by the bank, which will fix the property up and sell it to recoup their loss. The weak economy and poor housing market may have played a role in the banks' decisions not to do that this year, McCallum said.
"That is sort of a telling sign, when a bank will walk away from a foreclosure," she said.
Sean Harkins can be reached via e-mail at sharkins@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.