Thousands of Tampa Bay area residents have lost property after falling behind on their mortgages and even homeowners association dues.
But there’s a third way people are losing homes and land: delinquent property taxes.
In the first nine months of this year, the owners of more than 200 properties in Hillsborough County have lost them in “tax deed sales,” where the county clerk’s office sells off properties that are at least two years behind on their tax bills. That number has nearly doubled in the past three years.
Who’s buying them? Often, it’s financial heavy hitters such as a JPMorgan Chase subsidiary and a former Massachusetts hedge-fund manager.
Many of the properties are dilapidated homes or vacant land in blighted areas. Some are more valuable.
In June, the Hillsborough County clerk’s office sold 1.8 acres of industrial land in Ruskin containing five warehouses and mobile homes for just $40,000. Although it is not a high-end property, the county property appraiser still valued it at $230,000.
Ken Knox, who runs a Ruskin aluminum business, had wanted to buy the property for 15 years but couldn’t make a deal. He marveled at the price an investor group paid for it at the Hillsborough County Courthouse.
“I offered (the owners) a quarter-million dollars just before it went to tax sale,” Knox said.
Investors for years have paid the back taxes for delinquent property owners. In return, investors receive a “tax certificate,” and the property owners must pay back the investor with interest of up to 18 percent if they want to keep their home.
What’s new is the number of property owners losing their homes and land.
An investor essentially can foreclose on the property if the delinquent taxpayer hasn’t paid him back within 22 months. Already this year, the owners of 233 properties have lost them in tax deed sales at the county courthouse. That’s up from the 170 properties during all of last year, and 110 properties in all of 2009, data from the Clerk of the Circuit Court show.
Court Clerk Pat Frank said she foresaw the trend a few years ago. Property taxes have stayed fairly high, although so many properties have sunk in value. Some property owners now seem willing to let their homes and land go for the amount of back taxes, Frank said.