Anyone confirm/deny the county tax auction for 2020?

[hotzcatz]

Yup, what WV said! It's totally 'caveat emptor' although they do try to let you know when you're about to step in it.

There was one property with a house on it which had a million dollar lien against it. (Well, not an actual million dollars, but a large number - way more than the property in Puna was worth). After a very slow start, someone did bid on it and buy it, not sure what happened after that.

We will frequently go to the auctions as sort of an entertaining day in Hilo. Get to Hilo early, pop into the auction, try to buy something if they don't bid it up beyond believed value, then have lunch and do any other errands in Hilo.

I went to one in 2016 or so with a friend who bought a lot. He'd bid on one and was outbid by a young couple who bid it up beyond what I would have expected. It was only a 10,000 sq. ft. lot and IMHO not worth what they bid. My friend bought the next item on the auction list which was a 20,000 sq. ft. lot directly next door. He'd hoped to get both lots since together they'd make a nice square lot, but he didn't want to pay too much for the first smaller portion.

Afterwards, he was talking to his new neighbors and asking what they were planning to do with their new parcel. They started talking about a 'homestead', chickens, pigs, a cow, and a large garden. Obviously, they expected the parcel to have soil and maybe some pasture areas, but they'd bought up in Volcano where it's leaf litter over lava and not a lot of pasture area. When he asked how they were going to fit all that on 10,000 square feet, they replied that they'd bought three acres. Which would explain why they paid too much.

They were from the mainland and had sunk most if not all of their funds into buying the lot. They'd intended on camping out on it and then figuring out how to homestead. She was about seven months pregnant, he didn't seem to have any skills other than maybe yard work. She was doing house cleaning, but when she got further along, that would be limited and with a new baby also limited. Kinda one of those slow moving inevitable train wrecks, IMHO. My friend did offer to buy their lot from them and pay what they'd bid, although he'd only be able to make a relatively small down payment and payments on the rest but it would have gotten them out of their mistake. They refused and said they'd wait for god to tell them what to do unless my friend could pay in full in cash and an additional $1,000. Last I heard, god has told them to go back to the mainland, I haven't a clue if they've kept the taxes paid up on the lot or not it might end up in the auction again sometime soon.

[dobanion]

Yup, buyer beware, do your homework.

I knew some mainland "homesteaders" trying to make it work in Hawaiian Acres. They actually got 3 acres, some good soil, chickens, outdoor shower, etc. "Haole Rot" eventually chased them over to Kona, last I heard.

I also met a nice couple in 2018 building a non-permitted (but quite nice) looking place in Eden Roc. I think they were gonna make it.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by dobanion

I also met a nice couple in 2018 building a non-permitted (but quite nice) looking place in Eden Roc. I think they were gonna make it.

It may have been pointed out in a previous post - there is risk to build anything on the property the first year you have it - all the original property owner needs to do is pay you back the auction price plus interest - you don't get any extra money for property improvements.

[hotzcatz]

Yup, what WV said - no improvements in the first year unless you're willing for the previous owner to come back and get them for free.

It may have been more than haole rot that chased them off to Kona, if it was Kona they chose to exit to. Totally different vibe in Kona from Puna and if that's their comfortable spot, well, they probably shouldn't have been in Puna in the first place.

A friend of mine built a reasonable house about two thirds of the way back in Eden Roc. Last year she got chased out by meth heads with guns she said. Now she's moved to the mainland, although I don't see as how that's gonna be any safer what with the way they've got that virus over there.

She bought the lot next to the house she built at the tax auction several years ago so she had been intending to stay in Eden Roc.

As for building non-permitted, that may have been not noticed a decade ago or so, but they're starting to enforce building codes these days. They're also starting to use satellite surveillance so it's harder to hide. If they built anywhere near to current code, they may want to try to get their structure permitted as an 'as built'. They only charge twice the building permit fee for 'as builts', which isn't much in all actuality. However, the code changes about once a decade or so and even though it's built to code now, it won't be later. Getting a permit means that the house will be legal no matter what code changes happen later.

[JoDan]

Do most sell at under market value? Do the former land owners get the amount above the tax lien if there is any left?

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by JoDan

Do the former land owners get the amount above the tax lien if there is any left?

Any surplus goes towards paying the liens - then the former owner can claim the surplus. Realistically, I doubt that happens very often as the County probably couldn't find the original owner to begin with - let alone that owner knowing about the auction and claiming surplus.

[hotzcatz]

Sometimes they sell at under market value and sometimes they don't. When it's a hot market, then the auction usually sells close to if not sometimes above market. Which makes no sense to me, but folks sometimes get a bit weird at auctions.


The excess is supposed to go to the owner, although by the time they take out the taxes owed and the fees for the auction, the person who lost it would still have to come up with a fairly sizeable chunk of change.