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

[dobanion]

It's usually April/May when it's held. Obviously, this timeframe in 2020 is a horrible time to have hundreds of people standing together for 2 days. Can anyone on the island in the know confirm if the property tax auction is completely cancelled for the year, just delayed until after the quarantine is lifted, etc?

[hotzcatz]

It usually only takes a few hours, not two days. This is the property tax land auction that is usually held at the Auntie Sally Kaleohano's Luau Hale or if the crowd is too big, at the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium?

I haven't been keeping track of it, but perhaps they will have it at the Afook-Chinen so there will be room for social distancing?

Usually starting a month before the auction, they will have the list of properties going to auction on their website. Call them and report back to us?

[dobanion]

Ugh, I went in 2016, and it went on for two solid 8 hour days. There were hundreds of properties on the auction block.

And yes, the property tax land auction, at Auntie Sally's.

I guess I'll give the county a call, see if they can tell me anything.

[hotzcatz]

Oh, I must have missed that one. Usually if property prices are up and there's gonna be a huge crowd there, I wait for the next one. All the ones I've been to have finished before lunch, but usually there's less than 100 properties by the time it gets to the auction.

Last one I went to was the spring sale in 2018 right when the lava was starting from Fissure 8, I think. It had very few folks there and I picked up a nice little property up by Volcano. One of these days I should design a cute little house for it and sell it with the plans in place if someone wants to build a house. I'd thought about building a house on it myself, but we're too far away to make it an easy commute and building in Puna when you're not nearby can have some security issues.

Let us know what you find out, it might be a good time to buy another lot, although it's still early for a lot of them to be really late on their taxes due to any Covid concerns.

[JoDan]

Only lots for sale or homes, too?

[dobanion]

I think there can be houses, but it's very rare. It's essentially properties with unpaid taxes going back about 4-5 years. The county keeps repeating they can technically do it at 2 years, but if you look at the properties and back check the payments, they are all 4-5 years delinquent.

I guess it varies widely year/year on how many properties there are. Like I said, I only been once. I did buy something.

The one I went to was immediately before the Leilani eruption started. Couple of weeks if I recall. Some poor guy bought a lot in Kapoho for like $60k, then it got covered in lava.

I'd like to pickup a HOVE lot for cheap and drop a hideaway/getaway part time place on it. Star gazing.

[hotzcatz]

Yeah, I've got an acre 'camping' lot over in Royal Hawaiian Gardens, if you want another getaway spot you can borrow it or I'll sell it to you cheap. I think you have to hike to get to it, I've never managed to get out there since we've been busy with other things.


JoDan, if there's structures on the lots they are usually 'distressed' structures so don't expect a move in ready type of house. But there are the occasional structures which go up on the auction block. There was one in Hilo that I considered buying since the location was really nice but it went out of my price range since I'd just brought enough to buy vacant lots.


You must be physically present at the auction to bid on the lots and you must pay the entire amount on the spot. Most folks bring a certified check and the County gives them a check back for the amount they didn't use.

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by dobanion

I think there can be houses, but it's very rare. It's essentially properties with unpaid taxes going back about 4-5 years. The county keeps repeating they can technically do it at 2 years, but if you look at the properties and back check the payments, they are all 4-5 years delinquent.

I guess it varies widely year/year on how many properties there are. Like I said, I only been once. I did buy something.

The one I went to was immediately before the Leilani eruption started. Couple of weeks if I recall. Some poor guy bought a lot in Kapoho for like $60k, then it got covered in lava.

I'd like to pickup a HOVE lot for cheap and drop a hideaway/getaway part time place on it. Star gazing.

I went to last year's auction looking to pick up a few OV lots and ended up not bidding on any. I felt the bids were way above what I valued them at. I did end buying a graded lot with an incredible view for 8k from the owner as he was tired of people dumping on it. If I were going by to buy more lots in OV, I think I would look at lots I was interested in from the county's TMK site, looking for off island owners who may want to sell and just sending them exploratory mailings. There are a number of lots I have seen with owners listed as deceased or placed into trusts.

[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.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by dobanion

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.

That shouldn't be that surprising - many of the so called lots were created in the 50's and 60's and are not habitable nor habitable in the future.

Here is a good story that any buyer should really have a good idea on what they are bidding on:

https://www.civilbeat.org/2018/04/bi...rty-this-week/