Wayne County Treasurer Wojtowicz Raises Nearly $10 Million in September Auction

DETROIT - With the September 2011 auction of tax foreclosed properties concluded, Wayne County Treasurer Raymond J. Wojtowicz announced the results indicating sales of nearly $10 Million. “The last thing I want to do is sell someone’s property. However if they cannot or will not pay their taxes I am required by law to sell the property at auction,” Wojtowicz stated.

“This year we saw significant activity in the auction and I can report preliminary numbers indicate we will receive 9.8 million dollars in revenue to provide essential services for Wayne County citizens.”

The Wayne County Treasurer’s Office is making every effort to energize its communities by encouraging people in Michigan to purchase properties to help maintain stable neighborhoods. “I was pleased to hear from a number of buyers that they plan to work with the occupants of these properties so that they might continue to occupy homes and businesses throughout the county. This investment and cooperation is Real Michigan at work,” declared the Treasurer.

The number of properties sold in the auction represents a 74% increase over last year’s record setting auction; these funds support county-wide services. The 9.8 million dollars in sales represents a137% increase when compared to the 2010 September auction. Treasurer Wojtowicz’s directive to energize Michiganians is proving successful as Michigan residents purchased 93% of the auction properties.

The Treasurer also announced a new initiative to address concerns that some properties are purchased and then neglected by the new owner. “To strengthen the auction process and stabilize neighborhoods, beginning with the October auction the Treasurer’s Office will require purchasers to keep taxes current on the property as well as demolish, secure or maintain the property as required. If a purchaser fails to do so, the local community will have the right to take back that property with a thirty day notice. This is an aggressive measure as our goal is to eliminate blight and abandonment in our communities”, explains Wojtowicz.

Terms of sale will indicate and deeds issued will require the payment of taxes and maintenance, as well as demolition and securing of properties where warranted. “We don’t want these properties to be a blight on the community and if we don’t act properties could sit neglected for three years until we can re-foreclose; our citizens shouldn’t have to live with that,” the Treasurer stated.

With this new process in place, local communities can monitor the property by utilizing their housing codes. Should there be a violation of the requirements now placed in the deeds, the communities would notify the owner of the deed to correct the violation. If the owner does not correct the condition the local community could take back the property.