The Duval County Clerk of Court held its first online Tax Deed sale Jan. 25 and opened up the bidding pool to anyone with access to a computer.
Tax Deed sales formerly were held in the jury selection room at the Duval County Courthouse Annex. An auctioneer was present and people would raise their numbers to express interest in a property they hoped to buy cheap by paying the property taxes owed and any other penalties.
Typical attendance was estimated at 200-400 people, depending on the properties being offered, according to Mike Riley, assistant to the Clerk of Court.
“You used to have to be here to participate in the tax deed sales, but now you can bid from anywhere in the world,” said Riley. “The sale went great. We had 112 properties in the auction, which started at 9 a.m. and finished at 2 p.m. Much quicker than the way we used to do it,” he said.
The Clerk of Court’s office was ready to help people who might need help transitioning to the new system by offering 12 computer stations in rooms at the Annex and the Duval County Courthouse.
Tax deed sales are properties offered for sale to the highest bidder in order to satisfy delinquent property taxes. Property owners are required to pay property taxes on an annual basis to the County Tax Collector. If the owner fails to pay the taxes, a tax certificate will be sold by the Tax Collector at a date and time advertised by the Tax Collector.
A tax certificate represents a lien for unpaid real estate taxes. The amount of the certificate is the sum of the unpaid real estate tax and the non-ad valorem assessments, penalties, advertising costs and fees.
A tax certificate must be held for a minimum of two years but not more than seven years. At any time between the second and seventh year, the certificate holder may request the sale of the property to satisfy the certificate. The certificate holder must apply for the tax deed sale by presenting the original certificate to the Tax Collector.
Bidder Naji Hassan has been participating in Tax Deed sales for 2-3 years, and has had more interest in the sales lately because of the rise in price to buy foreclosed houses.
“In one way, the online sale was good because it gave me the chance to multitask from my office instead of coming down to the courthouse and spending the afternoon,” said Hassan. “In another way it’s bad because now there are more people bidding against me because of the ease of access.”
Hassan sees the Tax Deed sales as a good place to pick up rental properties that are easy to “flip” or resell quickly.
The Clerk’s office had been developing the Tax Deed sale website for about a year and a half. It was the last department in the Clerk’s office to go online, said Riley.
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