The city is poised to foreclose on 412 properties in the second round of its efforts to clear the glut of blighted buildings and get them back on the tax rolls.
Corporation Counsel John Polster said the city plans to go to court April 1 to acquire the properties, including some vacant and commercial lots.
The city's lawyer conceded that some of the structures are so dilapidated that they will likely have to be demolished.
If owners don't pay the back taxes the properties will be sold and rehabilitated, but the foreclosure process could be delayed if an owner seeks bankruptcy protection.
"Anytime you can rehab and dress up a property to improve it and have a homeowner occupant, you are benefiting a neighborhood," Polster said. "We think we're making a dent."
Mayor Gary McCarthy said, "We're moving in the right direction."
The mayor said a total of $4.5 million in back taxes are owed for 2010 and 2011. The most egregious of the tax scofflaws is Green Oak Stockade View Apts LLC at 134 State St., which is $110,000 in arrears.
Polster said the city has already mailed out 1,441 tax foreclosure petitions to anyone with an interest in the properties, including banks and the homeowners. Additionally, the city, as required, published the list of the properties in two local newspapers.
The city seized 220 properties in 2012 and last fall sold 22 properties, Polster said. On Monday, he said the city approved the sale of three vacant lots.
City officials are making progress handling foreclosures on a "case by case basis," Polster said, adding, "Our goal is to try and sell a couple a week."
We are advised NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works.
Corporation Counsel John Polster said the city plans to go to court April 1 to acquire the properties, including some vacant and commercial lots.
,,,
If owners don't pay the back taxes the properties will be sold and rehabilitated, but the foreclosure process could be delayed if an owner seeks bankruptcy protection.
Mayor Gary McCarthy said, "We're moving in the right direction."
The mayor said a total of $4.5 million in back taxes are owed for 2010 and 2011. The most egregious of the tax scofflaws is Green Oak Stockade View Apts LLC at 134 State St., which is $110,000 in arrears.
Polster said the city has already mailed out 1,441 tax foreclosure petitions ....
The city seized 220 properties in 2012 and last fall sold 22 properties, Polster said.
Only 9 "good" non foreclosure house sold last month
McC's "HOMES" program shows how many houses from one year's list of some 60 houses and only about 10 sold last year. Many houses made numerous repeat appearances on the gala bus tour.
Above references 220 houses foreclosed in 2012 and only 22 houses were purchased!
The comment references if owners paid their taxes. Sure, if owners paid THEIR taxes, but McC and his dem team are making the owners pay their own taxes PLUS the taxes of all the ultra rich POLITICAL CRONIES downtown!
Mayor McCarthy and his team are doing a great job in the city. Keep up the good work.
Really? Explanation? Proof? That's right, show what chicken is and don't address the FACTS
Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
The city couldn't give a couple of houses a week away let alone sell them.
I have to agree with this statement 100% Try and sell a couple a week ??? It took them 2 years to sell 22 houses?? McCarthy's housing plan is a complete failure!
McCarthy has alienated all the absentee landlords who wanted the properties in Schenectady. With his iron fist policies against them with codes sweeps, landlord registry, rental certificates, city eviction process in favor of tenants, etc has drove all the absentee landlords out of business majority of them Guyanese. Now he has all these houses and no takers for them. He should give the welfare hogs down at DSS and Section 8 in schenectady a free house oh yea i forgot they don't even want one! Looks like he can take these properties and shove it where the sun don't shine!
McCarthy has alienated all the absentee landlords who wanted the properties in Schenectady. With his iron fist policies against them with codes sweeps, landlord registry, rental certificates, city eviction process in favor of tenants, etc has drove all the absentee landlords out of business majority of them Guyanese. Now he has all these houses and no takers for them. He should give the welfare hogs down at DSS and Section 8 in schenectady a free house oh yea i forgot they don't even want one! Looks like he can take these properties and shove it where the sun don't shine!
I agree with you. McCarthy has mistakenly labelled all "absentee" landlords as bad business people. It is the lazy mans approach to managing the city housing stock. Why not enforce the rules on all equally and the end result would be advantageous to ALL. He has created a hostile business environment and has scared a very large segment of potential buyers away for good. What he also fails to notice is that these policies also scare away all resident or non absentee landlords from the market as well. Good luck to you McCarthy.
Life is tough, but it's tougher when you're stupid - John Wayne
TIP TO NEW VISITORS TO THIS FORUM - To improve your blogging pleasure it is recommended to ignore (Through editing your prefere) the posts of the following bloggers - DemocraticVoiceofReason, Scotsgod08 and Smoking Bananas. They continually go off topic, do not provide facts and make irrational remarks. If you do not believe me, this can be proven by their reputation scores or by a sampling of their posts.
Just to be clear, not all of the latest crop of foreclosures are because of properties being abandoned or the homeowner unable to afford the taxes. I know of one small home in Bellevue that is in foreclosure because the owner passed away, and her son, before her death did not make arrangements to have the title changed to his name. Subsequently he also passed and although HIS son is currently living there nothing was ever done to get the title changed, and thus the foreclosure.
It's quite sad really, because it could all have been avoided if the proper steps had been taken. A word to the wise I guess.
Oh, and the mortgage was paid for many years before, and until the passing of her son the taxes were ALWAYS paid ON TIME.
I agree with you. McCarthy has mistakenly labelled all "absentee" landlords as bad business people. It is the lazy mans approach to managing the city housing stock. Why not enforce the rules on all equally and the end result would be advantageous to ALL. He has created a hostile business environment and has scared a very large segment of potential buyers away for good. What he also fails to notice is that these policies also scare away all resident or non absentee landlords from the market as well. Good luck to you McCarthy.
That is correct! The high taxes, fees and hostile business enviroment is the main contributor to the 412 properties up for foreclosure. McCarthy will never admit this fact. He keeps blaming the property owners for not paying taxes. Look at the bigger picture. He is not looking at the cause and effect of his policies he keeps inserting foot in to the city's taxpayers arse hole. McCarthy will get hammered in 2015 Mayoral election on this very issue and will lose the Mayoral post.
However, it is only the city of Schenectady that feels the need to try to sell them publically/politically.
The other areas just let the realestate brokers do their job and let the economy dictate the price/sale.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Schenectady finally has money to demolish buildings, now must find owners Monday, March 17, 2014 By Kathleen Moore (Contact) Gazette Reporter Text Size: A | A
SCHENECTADY — The city finally has the money to knock down dozens of houses, but demolishing them is going to take more than just cash.
Most of the blighted, burned-out and abandoned properties on the demo list aren’t owned by the city. That means the city can’t just send in the wrecking ball, even if the property has been sitting untouched for more than a decade, like Andy’s Ski Shoppe on Albany Street.
That property is at the very top of the city prioritized demolition list, labeled “unsafe.”
But it’s owned by Andrew Boncie, who does not have a local phone number listed publicly.
It’s now up to Corporation Counsel John Polster to track him down, along with 77 other property owners whose buildings are considered too dangerous to remain standing.
Then there’s the properties the city already took through foreclosure and abandonment proceedings. The city owns 65 properties, including 206 Division St., the site of a terrible fire nearly 10 years ago.
Six people died in the blaze, five of them children.
In 2007, owner Elijah Self finally got an insurance payment, but he didn’t use the money to demolish the burned-out house. He paid off the mortgage instead.
The city took the house for abandonment and nonpayment of taxes a few months later.
The house should finally be coming down this summer, Polster said.
“The burnouts, we want to go after those immediately,” he said, calling them “a danger to the community.”
He’s calling up owners and asking their permission to knock down their houses.
“Some of them we’ll acquire [in court]. Some of them we’ll get permission,” he said.
He also wants some of the owners to pay for the demolition of the property they abandoned. But he’s not going after everyone for money.
“There will be people that haven’t got a dime. It would be a senseless waste of time to put them into bankruptcy going after them,” he said, adding that he also probably won’t take legal action against the estates of deceased owners.
“We would look at that considerably differently from one where a landlord milked it for a number of years before just letting it rot,” he said.
If owners refuse to pay, Polster said he could get a court order allowing an immediate demolition while still pursuing the longer process of suing them for the costs.
In those cases, he’s planning to use an expedited court process that takes only a couple of months to get permission for demolition. Normally, it would take nine to 12 months, he said.
The lawsuits for money might not be resolved for a year, but Polster hopes to eventually get funds that could be used to pay for more demolitions.
The city has 143 properties on its demolition list and enough money for only about 80 of them.
About 40 will get knocked down this year, Polster said, starting this summer. “We’re planning to go after a number of properties this year,” he said. “We’re excited. We think we can do a lot to improve the appearance of the neighborhood.”
The city has a $2.4 million loan from HUD for the work. It won’t all be spent on demolitions; some next-door properties will be renovated when the blighted house is demolished, Mayor Gary McCarthy said.
He’s looking for areas where a little renovation plus demolition could significantly improve the neighborhood. He said he wants to “do something positive” instead of just knocking houses down.
Other options include placing garden plots or parking lots in the space once occupied by the blighted house. Parking lots could create off-street parking in dense neighborhoods, making it easier to plow narrow streets, McCarthy said.
How will Puppet Polster know who's a "landlord milking it for a number of years before just letting it rot"? Isn't this a targeted discrimination? Your going to ask for permission from the owners to knock the property down and oh yeah by the way your paying for some of the cost to knock it down! This MAYOR and his Puppet Attorney is CRAZY! The more hostile you get with people the less they will comply and those 1,200 foreclosures that you just got back you will shove it all in your big fat hole and walk around swinging your small stick!
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