The Virtual Sheriff Sale Idea Needs Some Tweaks! (Philadelphia, Penn: sales, foreclosures)

[JimfromPennsyl]

Both sides in the virtual sheriff's sales plan dispute have some legitimate points. Going virtual will facilitate more big business and investor owners to buy the properties which will produce more gentrification, less ownership of properties and less affordable homes for non-wealthy Philadelphians all really bad developments. On the other side the criticism of why the sheriff should go with an outside vendor such as Bid-4-Assets why not just build a virtual system itself; that is foolish because it would be a significant expense on the City to build and run that. Contrary to certain politicians that cherry pick their facts the arrangement with Bid-4-Assets is a fair one and commensurate with what other counties in Pennsylvania have. The arrangement is that the vendor gets one and a half percent of the sale for "mortgage foreclosure" sales and ten percent for 'tax foreclosure" sales, I am not an expert but I would venture to guess that generally properties under tax foreclosure sales are in much worse physical condition and so have a significantly lower sale price that is why there is a ten percent rate. Using an outside vendor would be good for the City, it would help get politics out of the running of things in the city. City Council and the Mayor should at minimum do whatever is needed to suspend foreclosures until the programs that will stem from the Federal government's American Rescue Plan are well underway so that property owners at issue here who would be eligible for help to get it. To reduce the investor related problems outlined earlier City Council and the Mayor should by law should change the sheriff's sales; mandate a buyer can only buy nine properties a year, give the sheriff the power to permanently ban bidders that act as proxies for investors to skirt this rule, put an encumbrance on the titles of properties sold through the sheriff's sales that for the following seven years from the sheriff's sale unless the future seller has resided in the property for at least two continuous years the sheriff's office has the right to review the sale and if the sheriff's office believes the buyer will not be an owner occupied buyer but rather and investor it can stop the sales and has the right to buy the property at the sale price once the sheriff's office has notified the seller of the objection it shall have six months to buy the property and the sheriff's office has the right to give that right to a future individual owner occupied buyer and that the sheriff's office shall hold a lottery amongst interested and eligible buyers within three months of that announcement, the sheriff's office shall have complete discretion on that determination if the future buyer is a non-investor; however, if the office abuses that discretion a court can take that power away from the office for up to five year terms and appoint a special master to make those determinations!