Anyone confirm/deny the county tax auction for 2020? (Hilo, Volcano: tax lien, house)

[hotzcatz]

[quote=dobanion;58405064]hotzcatz: You mean Royal Hawaiian Estates, up near Volcano? Maybe.....

Well, I have one there, too, but the bigger acre lot is in Royal Gardens, the sub that got eaten by lava about a decade ago or so. Here's the last man out of that sub: https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/blogs..._Royal_Gardens



Hmm, come to think of it, I could sell both of them, it doesn't look like we will be using them as camping spots. The Royal Gardens spot would be living on lava and should have some amazing views but the Royal Hawaiian Estates lot is an actual building lot. Smaller quarter acre lot, though, not a full acre.

[hotzcatz]

Originally Posted by dobanion

hotzcatz: You mean Royal Hawaiian Estates, up near Volcano? Maybe.....

Grassyknoll:

Precisely how I ended up buying a second lot adjacent to my first in Green Sands. Sent out letters to the people on each side of my first lot. One responded, not interested in selling. The other, no response. Then I noticed the taxes weren't getting paid. Did a lot of googling, and turns out, the owner was deceased. Dead men tell no tales, they also don't pay property taxes. So when it went to auction, I was there.

Man I guess things are really different from my experience. I remember dozens of HOVE lots coming up on the block and NO BIDDERS. Opening bids of $2500-$3500, and at least 10 of them just didn't sell.

This was the spring 2018 sale? I didn't stick around for the HOVE lots at the end of the sale since I'd gotten the lot near Volcano early on in the auction and HOVE is much further away than Volcano. There weren't very many people at the sale and bidding seemed pretty slow.

I think it was that auction that had someone who didn't have the cash on hand to pay and the parcel was going to be resold at the end of the auction, which doesn't happen often. But, I didn't stick around to see if it sold.


Before going to the auction, I'll print out the bidding list and make an estimate of the value of each property that may be of interest to me. Some of them start too close to their value to bother with. At the auction, I'll bid up to that amount and then stop.

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by dobanion

hotzcatz: You mean Royal Hawaiian Estates, up near Volcano? Maybe.....

Grassyknoll:

Precisely how I ended up buying a second lot adjacent to my first in Green Sands. Sent out letters to the people on each side of my first lot. One responded, not interested in selling. The other, no response. Then I noticed the taxes weren't getting paid. Did a lot of googling, and turns out, the owner was deceased. Dead men tell no tales, they also don't pay property taxes. So when it went to auction, I was there.

Man I guess things are really different from my experience. I remember dozens of HOVE lots coming up on the block and NO BIDDERS. Opening bids of $2500-$3500, and at least 10 of them just didn't sell.

Many of the lots do go cheap, but many of those are also unbuildable or will need major tractor work to be usable. I was bidding on lots with specific attributes and those generally saw active bidding .

[dobanion]

Ain't nobody put anything up in Royal Gardens since it got eaten, far as I can tell. No way to get there. They aren't even listed on any of the real estate websites I can find. And, the county has assessed value as $100 for all of them.

Kalapana Vacation Lots has tempted me on occasion though.

And pretty much all of HOVE is "habitable" with the right dozer. It's certainly high risk, lava wise. No doubt.

And yes, it was spring 2018 when I was at the auction. Looks like the country recorded my sale as of 6-28-2018. The actual auction was a few weeks earlier.

[terracore]

What type of payment is expected at one of these auctions?

[hotzcatz]

Payment at the auctions is usually by certified check. They give you back a check for any leftover amount that wasn't used. You can also pay cash.

You can not use a credit card. You may not leave the auction to go find financing.

At the beginning, there's tables with paperwork for each lot so you can look at the ones you're interested in to see if there's any liens or other loans out on it. Then folks settle into the seating area. It's a very slow auction, there's no fast talking auctioneer. The County representative gets up and goes through a whole lot of 'buyer beware' commentary. Finally gets to the actual auction.

"Item #1, we have an upset price of $1,234, do we have a bid for the upset price." If folks want to bid, they stand up and shout out their bid. Someone will pop up and say "I bid upset price". Then the auctioneer looks around and asks "do we have another bid?" One or four other folks will pop up and shout out a higher number. Usually they go up by hundreds so it can take awhile. As the bid price goes above what folks want to pay, they sit down. Last person standing gets the property.

Once the winning bidder is determined, an aide from the County table up in front comes down the aisle and puts a sticker with the item number on it on the person's sleeve. Then, they escort the winning bidder to the tables at the back where they make the payment. If they want, they can still bid on properties while at the tables in back. If they don't have the money to pay on the spot, the item immediately goes back to auction.

[dobanion]

Sounds like you been more than a few times. They should put that in the FAQ on the county website.

I wish I could repeat the disclaimer the county rep gave when they got to HOVE (Hawaiian Ocean VIEW Estates). Something about not expecting to really view anything but the horizon.

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by dobanion

Sounds like you been more than a few times. They should put that in the FAQ on the county website.

I wish I could repeat the disclaimer the county rep gave when they got to HOVE (Hawaiian Ocean VIEW Estates). Something about not expecting to really view anything but the horizon.

I live in OV, and have no problem with that statement
Picture is from my Lanai.

[terracore]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Payment at the auctions is usually by certified check. They give you back a check for any leftover amount that wasn't used. You can also pay cash.

You can not use a credit card. You may not leave the auction to go find financing.

At the beginning, there's tables with paperwork for each lot so you can look at the ones you're interested in to see if there's any liens or other loans out on it. Then folks settle into the seating area. It's a very slow auction, there's no fast talking auctioneer. The County representative gets up and goes through a whole lot of 'buyer beware' commentary. Finally gets to the actual auction.

"Item #1, we have an upset price of $1,234, do we have a bid for the upset price." If folks want to bid, they stand up and shout out their bid. Someone will pop up and say "I bid upset price". Then the auctioneer looks around and asks "do we have another bid?" One or four other folks will pop up and shout out a higher number. Usually they go up by hundreds so it can take awhile. As the bid price goes above what folks want to pay, they sit down. Last person standing gets the property.

Once the winning bidder is determined, an aide from the County table up in front comes down the aisle and puts a sticker with the item number on it on the person's sleeve. Then, they escort the winning bidder to the tables at the back where they make the payment. If they want, they can still bid on properties while at the tables in back. If they don't have the money to pay on the spot, the item immediately goes back to auction.

Interesting process. You say that the paperwork shows loans or other liens against the property, does this means they have been vetted similar to what a title company does? And who pays the liens, the buyer or the county? How does that work? Can a certified check be made out to "CASH" like a personal check? I've never tried to redeposit a certified check, it's always been made out to an escrow company or whatever.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by terracore

Can a certified check be made out to "CASH" like a personal check? I've never tried to redeposit a certified check, it's always been made out to an escrow company or whatever.

You would make the certified check payable to yourself for the maximum amount you intend to bid. If you don't bid, or lose, you simply deposit the check made out to yourself. If you win, you endorse the check over to the County, they'll cut you a check back for the difference.

Regarding liens - the buyer is responsible for clearing the liens