by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
This year’s on-line tax certificate auction is set for May 27 and those looking to buy the certificates and make a few dollars along the way will have more property to bid on than ever before.
According to figures provided by Tax Collector Mike Hogan, there are currently 34,828 real estate parcels that qualify for the auction because the property owner hasn’t paid the 2008 taxes yet. That figure is up 26 percent from last year’s total of 27,743. The value of the property this year is $68.8 million, which is a $16.1 million increase from last year.
“That’s because we are billing more,” said Hogan.
This is the third year Hogan has held the tax certificate sale through an on-line auction. And, he couldn’t be happier with the results of the first two years. Hogan said the sale takes one nine-hour day to complete.
“Typically, it used to be a full week, from 8-5 with about five people working,” said Hogan.
Like year’s past, Hogan expects a vast majority of the tax certificates — as in 98 percent — to be purchased by people locally and, literally, from all over the world. Because the sale is conducted on the Internet, investors from across the nation and globe can bid on properties. If successful, the purchasers may charge the property owner anywhere from 0 percent to 18 percent interest for up to two years, or until the taxes are paid. Hogan said the average interest rate is about 5 percent.
“In some years before, it was as low as one quarter of a percent,” said Hogan, adding the 2 percent of the deeds that aren’t purchased usually involve parcels in which the property taxes are higher than the value of the property. “Those are struck back to the county which gives them to HabiJax or an organization like HabiJax. Many times, when I was on City Council, we gave the properties to HabiJax.”
On thing about the sale that does baffle Hogan is the number of properties available. He said Florida’s “liberal” property tax laws make it relatively easy for property owners to pay.
“The property owner is notified in August each year of their proposed taxes. Then, they get a TRIM (truth in millage) notice from (Property Appraiser) Jim Overton,” explained Hogan. “In November, you get your tax bill and get a 4 percent discount if you pay in November. By March, you get a 0 percent discount. By April 1, you are notified if you are delinquent and before June 1 I have to hold the tax certificate sale. If you pay the taxes, you pay a 3 percent penalty. If not, it’s two more years before the purchaser can redeem the tax certificate. That’s almost three years before someone can lose their property.”
This year, Hogan has a new vendor handling the on-line auction. In the two years before, his office still dealt with the mountain of paperwork that accompanies the tax certificate sale.
“That costs a lot of time and it’s very labor intensive,” said Hogan. “The new vendor that’s handling the tax certificate sale will also handle the tax deed sale in two years.”
For more information on the tax certificate sale, go to www.coj.net and click on the Tax Collector Office link.
356-2466