Bidders Flock To Auction Of Tax Delinquent Property

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Sherryll Tunnell walked away from Tuesday’s tax auction with $297,000 worth of Sullivan County real estate he bought for only $22,800.

“It’s just like shooting in the dark,” Tunnell said, explaining the strategy he used to pick his targets from a list of nothing more than names and addresses.

Among his winnings at the auction, Tunnell got a house on Windsor Avenue in Bristol, Tenn., for $6,000 and two East State Street buildings for a combined $6,600.

He also purchased a storefront on 12th Street in Bristol for $2,800 and three vacant lots located in Blountville and Kingsport for a total of $9,000.

All told, Tunnell and 68 other bidders purchased 43 buildings and vacant lots for $163,103. County officials sold each piece of property at auction to recoup tax debts that go back as far as 1996.

The very mention of a tax sale helps property owners find a way to settle their debts, said Paul Harr, a private attorney who has handled the county’s delinquent tax collections since 1988.

Harr planned to auction 114 parcels when he obtained a judge’s order to schedule the sale last month. The list he gave bidders on Tuesday featured only 68 properties, of which 13 were scratched off because the owners had made a payment or some other arrangement at the 11th hour to keep their land.

Property owners can still retain the parcels sold at the auction by paying whatever county taxes they owe, plus 10 percent of the highest bid within one year, Harr said.

Banks can use this option to recoup any mortgage debts if they foreclose on the property, he said. The property does not transfer to the new owner until after the year is complete.

Each sale is also subject to a 10-day raised bid period, where any county resident can cast a higher bid on any piece of property included in the auction.

Harr said in such cases, county officials will invite the original bidder and the high-bidder to take part in a private auction and bid for the property.

Despite all the conditions, participants in Tuesday’s tax auction packed the county’s chancery courtroom.

Tunnell said he’d attended tax sales for the past 20 years, though this was his first in Tennessee.

Tuesday’s event was Scott Dishner’s second sale.

“A lot of people will just buy [a parcel at auction] just for the equity,” said Dishner, who picked up a house and a 2.3-acre lot in Kingsport for $11,500.

Even though he was rather inexperienced in the process, Dishner said bidders should do their homework before showing up at an auction.

He said people should check out the property’s appraisal records and tax maps and, if possible, drive by the address just to make sure it was worth the effort.

“If you get it after a year and it’s a big hole in the ground, then you’ve wasted your money,” he said.

Five bidders learned such a lesson and ended up paying a few hundred dollars more at the auction than what their properties were worth.

One bidder paid $1,600 for a Kingsport vacant lot in that was worth only $100.

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