Auction to dispose of local foreclosed homes
06.11.2008 10:00
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- Source: toledoblade.com
Properties ranging from a McMansion in Ottawa Hills' Hasty Hills subdivision to a $7,900 fixer-upper in Toledo are to be sold at a large auction of foreclosed homes today. Nearly three dozen properties will be on the block at 7 p.m. in the conference center of the Hilton Hotel at the University of Toledo's Health Science campus. "We have properties across all price points," said Crystal Wright, spokesman for auctioneer Hudson & Marshall, Dallas. "It runs the gamut." The 34 Toledo area properties are among 500 foreclosed homes to be sold by the firm at a series of auctions in Ohio and Pennsylvania through Sunday. A sale of eight homes in the Fremont and Sandusky areas is set for 11 a.m. tomorrowat the Hampton Inn & Suites in Fremont. The largest of the sales, in Cleveland, will include 167 homes. All of the homes were acquired in foreclosures by major U.S. banking institutions. Homes involved in the local sale are owned by Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Citimortgage, Deutsche Bank, and others, Lucas County records show. Foreclosure filings remain high in the county. This year, they will likely exceed the record 3,486 filed in 2007, Bernie Quilter, clerk of courts has said. Metro Toledo had the 34th highest rate of foreclosure nationally in the third quarter, according to RealtyTrac, an online tracking agency. Hudson & Marshall is one of the nation's busiest auctioneers of foreclosed properties. The firm will sell 30,000 houses this year, Ms. Wright said. Over the past eight years, it has sold 70,000 houses. "Over the next two years, the volume is going to be pretty substantial," she added. The firm specializes in sales of REOs, or "real estate owned" properties, which is an industry term for homes repossessed by lenders. Hudson & Marshall auctioneers travel around the nation selling such properties. Frank Wilcox, of Wilcox Realty Co. in Toledo, is the listing agent for three of the houses to be auctioned. He has attended other sales by the firm in Toledo and elsewhere. "You have investors driving up from South Carolina," Mr. Wilcox said. "They'll sit there and try to low-ball it. If they hit, they own a property." In some situations, however, when offers are lower than an owner wants, the highest bidder must wait until later to find out if the bid is accepted, he added. "We have people who come to the sale and don't necessarily want to buy," Ms. Wright said. "They want to familiarize themselves with the process." Houses set for sale include the 23-year-old Ottawa Hills property, appraised by the county at $524,000 but last listed for $349,000. Contact Gary Pakulski at:
gpakulski@theblade.com
or 419-724-6082.
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