SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Nearly 700 residential and commercial properties are up for grabs in San Diego County.
The homes and businesses are in tax default, but if you have the cash, you can buy them below market value. These property owners have not paid the property taxes for the last five years.
After five years, the county is allowed to put the home up for auction. For some, that can mean getting a deal.
One of the homes is in La Jolla with an opening bid of nearly $2.2 million.
“It is an incredible opportunity to purchase something that would have tremendous value. When you go to re-market it and it’s really a property that could be valued at $7 million today,” said Melody Novak, HomeSmart Realty West.
Novak is with the Agents SD, a division of HomeSmart Realty West, and says inventory on homes for sale is low. It’s one reason why the county believes they are getting calls from people all over the world.
“There is a lot of interest and will continue to be a lot of interest especially in these market times. People are looking for a market and if they love it, they go for it,” said Dan McAllister, San Diego County Treasurer-Tax Collector.
And it’s not just homes in the multimillion-dollar range. The opening bid for one single family home in San Diego is $82,000, but the comparative market analysis puts it at over seven hundred thousand dollars.
“You would end up getting multiple offers over your list price and in many instances significantly over your list price because of the incredible demand,” said Novak.
The county warns buyers to do their homework, because not all of the properties are ready to move in.
“You can go to a title company or do some research on their own to see if there’s a lien against the property to see if we can’t dissolve or resolve it,” said McAllister.
There are also hundreds of timeshare properties listed for $100.
Of the 692 remaining properties up for auction, 557 -- more than 80% -- are timeshares.
The owners of the properties can still avoid going to sale if they pay up by March 11.