“If we auction off a thousand properties every month, it’ll still take
over nine years to get through all of them. What are we waiting for???”

This has to be approached carefully… it’s a tough situation.  If you auction off a lot of properties at a time, you’re going to drive property values across the city down.  It’s simple “supply and demand.”  It’s part of the reason the market is struggling right now, but with foreclosures.

[...] This post was Twitted by hnfirehose [...]

39 year delinquency at 1334 Walnut St?!?! effing pathetic.

I agree. This problem took years to create, and won’t be solved in a day. This is both part of the cause of the dilapidation in our neighborhoods and now a roadblock to a solution. That being said, all of these properties won’t and can’t be put into the hands of new owners in a day. Without the demand from new residents, a massive turnover in these properties could severely increase the supply of properties on the market and depress demand/values. That being said, a more aggressive stance needs to be taken. Maybe the city should focus on turning over properties in areas where there is demand to start (and in neighborhoods like Mayfair or further up in the NE where a single delinquency could be destabilizing): places like Center City and the close in neighborhoods between Girard and Washington, with the addition of a few key areas which are seeing stunning growth in rehabs, like the area around Temple and Point Breeze. Simultaneously, it should be aggressive about newly delinquent properties to prevent the problem from getting worse.

Once it starts to filter through the backlog, then other areas can be added to the list. The assumption of course, is that if people see the city getting aggressive, regardless of the neighborhood, they’ll make a more concerted effort to get their properties up-to-date, which should decrease delinquencies everywhere.

Brian is correct, although what could potentially alleviate a mass of properties on the market is a sped up third-party-initiated auctioning system. Any property more than two years past due is eligible, and would work like this:

-I see a property that I want that is indicated online that it is available for auctioning.
-I fill out a form and pay a small refundable deposit (say $200-$300) to commence the process.
-The property owner is contacted and given a grace period to pay the back taxes and penalties (say 30-60 days) or set up a payment plan*.
-After the grace period passes without payment, the property goes on the auction block with an opening bid of the property taxes, fees, and interest due.
-I will receive a refund of the deposit if a) the owner pays or begins a payment plan or b) the property is purchased for at least the amount due, whether or not I am the person who purchased it.

*If they opt for a payment plan, the property will again become delinquent and available for auction 60 days after a missed payment

This could incentivize for those sitting on even mildly lucrative properties (such as the hotel above) to pay their taxes before worrying about this, as anyone interested in the property can begin the process, and there is a third party to ask what happened when a councilperson attempts to step in and thwart the proceedings. Thoughts?

“Once it starts to filter through the backlog, then other areas can be
added to the list. The assumption of course, is that if people see the
city getting aggressive, regardless of the neighborhood, they’ll make a
more concerted effort to get their properties up-to-date, which should
decrease delinquencies everywhere.”

This.

Also, wasn’t implying that the city should in fact auction off 1000 properties a month for the next nine years, was just trying to show the sheer quantity in a different way. This is definitely a problem that has to be approached with care, and all of the different angles need to be considered. That said, we wish we felt like the local government was at least making some progress on the issue.

I’m pretty sure these aren’t Nutter’s supporters. You surely don’t understand his voting block. Jannie Blackwell, maybe. Nutter, no.

Also, if you auction off 1000 properties per month I can see our homeless problem getting even more out of control!  Especially in low-income neighborhoods!

2 of them are within 5 doors of one of our city council men (at-large).  you’d think they’d care…

I’m glad there’s more light being shed on this complex problem.  There is unfortunately no easy fix but it’s been entirely proven that the head-in-the-sand/Jannie Blackwell approach doesn’t work.

Did the article say 600 or 1000? I don’t remember. Regardless, the current status quo of only going after the most serious offenders is a joke, particularly in light of the fact that it does nothing to lower-level offenders. It just paints a picture of incompetence on the city’s part more than anything else. Whether it’s 600 or 1000, when the sales begin once again, they need to be done in some sort of systematic way (targeting a combination of neighborhoods and time in delinquency) to demonstrate that this will be approached in a fair and consistent manner. Anything less will just continue to paint a picture of incompetence, even if more of these sales are taking place. Let’s just get these properties back on the tax roles. Now.

Oh yeah, how about a delinquency 28 years in the running (totaling $138,451.60) DIRECTLY across the street from City Hall: http://1.usa.gov/ppecne

You’d think that would be a bit embarrassing for Mayor Nutter…

I have a friend who brough a 6 lot property in Northern Liberties for $8,000 in back taxes in 1990- around the time it became known as an up and coming neighborhood.  He just sold it for $300,000 or $50,000 per lot to some builders.  I also have a friend who paid back taxes on land in Grad Hospital, not sure of the amount and he sold it for $160,000 a few years ago.  Definately a good thing to look into.

I don’t begrudge anyone the right to make a profit, but this is exactly what shouldn’t be encouraged at this point.  Having the vacant land snapped up by speculators who leave it as-is doesn’t solve much.

[...] we mentioned in a post yesterday, property tax delinquency is a huge problem in Philadelphia, and based on that story, it’s [...]

I agree that it’s not ideal–it would be nice for someone to buy a lot and fix it up–but this does mean that the taxes are actually getting paid.  That’s money that our city desperately needs.  

[...] Inquirer, in cooperation with Plan Philly. You may remember, we mentioned this special report last week. Because of the city’s newly discovered desire to go after tax delinquent properties, we [...]