Buyers bid for bargains at county tax sale

Nearly 160 potential buyers were present Monday to bid on 443 tax-delinquent properties.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

Richard Headley just wanted some peace and quiet near his Washington Township home.

When the small piece of vacant property next door he suspected had become a haven for drug activity was listed for tax sale, Headley had an opportunity.

So, he came to the Westmoreland County Courthouse on Monday with his checkbook, ready to bid on the property.

“It’s a little piece of property, about one-quarter of an acre. I just want to make sure there isn’t some stupidity next to my home,” Headley said.

He was one of nearly 160 potential buyers for 443 tax-delinquent properties put up for sale on Monday at the Westmoreland County Courthouse in Greensburg.

The county holds the sale each September, seeking to recoup lost tax revenue on properties that are at least two years in arrears. Eleventh- hour payments and lawsuits filed to halt sales culled the auction list that early last week included about 1,100 tax-delinquent properties.

Headley was the lone bidder on the Route 66 property he desired and purchased it for $1,041, a price that represented owed taxes, interest and other outstanding fees.

His purchase was one of the 170 properties sold during auction that netted about $2.53 million, according to Tim Andrews, solicitor for the county’s tax office.

The sale, conducted as an auction, primarily attracted bidders who sought to add to their inventories of properties that could be rented, renovated and potentially flipped to new owners. This year’s sale also included dozens of parcels where just mineral rights were available. About 20 of those tracts sold at the sale, Andrews said.

For potential buyers such as Michaelle Crawford of Kecksburg, the sale was fuel for her hobby rather than a pure business opportunity.

Crawford and her husband, David, had their eye on a single-family home just down the road from their residence. She said she planned to fix up the house and potentially rent it out if her bid was successful. It’s something the Crawfords did several years ago with another home in Mt. Pleasant Township.

“We spent $4,000 just two years ago for a home and 3 acres. We put in new wiring and did other repairs,” Crawford said, noting she spent about $120,000 to renovate the home. She believes it is now valued at about $300,000.

For the county, Monday’s sale means those properties will resume generating tax revenue.

“It has to be doable,” Crawford said in explaining how she picked out the property she targeted at Monday’s sale. “You just get a feeling like when you get married.”

Headley just wanted to prevent future problems on the property that abuts his home and make sure it remains safe.

He has no immediate plans for the site.

“I’ll pay the taxes and insurance then do nothing with it,” Headley said.