tax auction

Should have had this up sooner -- several people have asked for the results of Saturday's county tax lien auction. Below is the list of properties we previously published with the sale price in bold at the end of each listing.

• 7016 Macumber Road, Alabama, mobile home, .46 acres; Assessed, $48,200; Taxes owed, $3,778.70. ($19,000)
• 10 Edgewood Drive, Batavia, single-family residence, .61 acres (and neighboring parcel); Assessed, $185,000; Taxes owed,$33,938.61. ($90,000)
• Pearl Street Road, Batavia, vacant lot, .28 acres; Assessed $1,300; Taxes owed $694.41. ($1,200)
• 7521 Mechanic St., Byron, single-family residence, .53 acres; Assessed $30,000; Taxes owed, $5,508.57. ($9,000)
• 11036 South St. Road, Pavilion, single-family residence and out buildings, .06 acres; Assessed $56,800; Taxes owed $1,150.60. ($11,000)
• 8562 Lake Road, Pembroke, residence with small improvements; Assessed $20,000; Taxes owed $2,019.39. ($7,000)
• Alleghany Road, corner of Cohocton, Pembroke, 10 acres, rural vacant lot; Assessed $6,300; Taxes owed $994.97. ($5,100)
• 6128 Sweetland Road, Stafford, 19.77 acres with buildings;  Assessed $37,300; Taxes owed $8,101.81. ($52,000)
• 103 Lake St., Le Roy, single-family residence, 2.3 acres; Assessed $72,400; Taxes owed $12,820.58. ($49,000)
• 21 Lake St., Le Roy, single-family residence, 5.6 acres; Assessed $88,900; Taxes owed $14,343.02. ($41,000)
• 5 Pleasant Ave., two-family residence, .12 acres; Assessed $31,000; Taxes owed $11,124.13. ($7,000)
• 34 N. Pearl St., Oakfield, single-family residence, .15 acres; Assessed $60,300; Taxes owed $8,358.20. ($21,000)

Total profits for the county aren't available yet, according to Treasurer Scott German. He said the interest on back taxes need to be calculated out of what was owed in order to arrive at the final profit number. Those calculations haven't been done yet.

One of the bidders who won a residence in the city's tax lien auction appeared at Monday's city council meeting and accused the city of violating the terms of the purchase contract.

Daniel Lang's father is actually listed as the winning bidder on 20 Franklin St., but Lang said he was planning to pay for the house and move in with his family.

However, he said, the city failed to honor its purchase contract with him by not closing the deal within 30 days of the Jan. 29 auction.

"We want to pull out of the contract and have our $10,000 deposit refunded," Lang said. "The contract is no longer valid."

City Attorney George Van Nest demurred.

It would be inaccurate, Van Nest said, to say the contract was no longer valid or that the 30 day period had been violated because the purchase cannot be approved until the council has a chance to meet and review the purchase.

"This is the next opportunity for the council to act on real property sales," Van Nest said. "To the extent that the council does move forward, the purchase can be finalized."

The winning bid was $36,000.

As Van Nest spoke, Lang and his father were nearly coming out of their chairs wanting to speak again, but under meeting rules, their time to speak was over.

The contract reads:

TERMS OF THE AUCTION: The property is sold subject to confirmation and approval by the City Council of the City of Batavia within thirty days (30) days hereof.

After a closed session to discuss the real estate transaction, the council voted to approve the sale.

After the meeting Lang, who moved back to Batavia recently from South Carolina, said he and his wife, along with their children, have been living with his parents.  With the sale now approved, he said he doesn't know what he's going to do, whether to insist the contract was voided by the lack of action for 30 days, or just accept the approved sale.

He said he and his wife just want to get into their own house as soon as possible.

"We just want to get back to being a normal family again," Lang said.

In all, the council approved the auction purchase of four properties, including 507 Ellicott St., which was won by a company owned by Jeremy Yasses.

Council members Sam Barone and Bob Bialkowski objected to the sale of the property to Yasses, but a motion by Bialkowski to consider the property separately from the other purchases was defeated on a 7-2 vote.

Diana Page was approved to purchase 308 Washington Ave. for $1,800 as well as 48 Riverview Parkway for $100. Tom Englerth was approved for purchase of 21 South Lyon St.

In the city report on past landowner code violations, Englerth was allegedly cited for putting on a roof without a permit. He did eventually get a permit, according to the report.

That alleged violation came on 9 Willow Ave., the same property Englerth was able to purchase after a bid from local landlord Michael Pullinzi was rejected last year by the council for allegedly having too many code violations on his existing properties.

Twelve foreclosed properties, assessed at more than $637,000 total, will be auctioned off Saturday as Genesee County attempts to recover unpaid taxes on them.

In all, the county would need to yield at least $102,830 from the auction to recover all of the unpaid taxes.

The properties include six single-family residences and range in lot size from .12  up to nearly 20 acres.

Here's a complete list of available properties:

• 7016 Macumber Road, Alabama, mobile home, .46 acres; Assessed, $48,200; Taxes owed, $3,778.70.
• 10 Edgewood Drive, Batavia, single-family residence, .61 acres (and neighboring parcel); Assessed, $185,000; Taxes owed,$33,938.61.
• Pearl Street Road, Batavia, vacant lot, .28 acres; Assessed $1,300; Taxes owed $694.41.
• 7521 Mechanic St., Byron, single-family residence, .53 acres; Assessed $30,000; Taxes owed, $5,508.57.
• 11036 South St. Road, Pavilion, single-family residence and out buildings, .06 acres; Assessed $56,800; Taxes owed $1,150.60.
• 8562 Lake Road, Pembroke, residence with small improvements; Assessed $20,000; Taxes owed $2,019.39.
• Alleghany Road, corner of Cohocton, Pembroke, 10 acres, rural vacant lot; Assessed $6,300; Taxes owed $994.97.
• 6128 Sweetland Road, Stafford, 19.77 acres with buildings;  Assessed $37,300; Taxes owed $8,101.81.
• 103 Lake St., Le Roy, single-family residence, 2.3 acres; Assessed $72,400; Taxes owed $12,820.58.
• 21 Lake St., Le Roy, single-family residence, 5.6 acres; Assessed $88,900; Taxes owed $14,343.02.
• 5 Pleasant Ave., two-family residence, .12 acres; Assessed $31,000; Taxes owed $11,124.13.
• 34 N. Pearl St., Oakfield, single-family residence, .15 acres; Assessed $60,300; Taxes owed $8,358.20.

The auction begins at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 5, at Bontrager's Auction Center, 8975 Wortendyke Road in the Town of Batavia.

Jeremy Yasses has plans to make 507 Ellicott St. beautiful again, but first he needs the Batavia City Council to approve his purchase of the property.

In the city's annual tax lien auction, Yasses bid on the property and won it for $5,000 under the corporate name Trine Properties, Inc.

But last year the council set a precedent by denying Michael Pullinzi the ability to buy 9 Willow St.,saying Pullinzi was a landlord with too many alleged code violations against his properties.

Once again, council members are receiving a memo from city staff on the number and types of alleged violations against this year's auction winners, and Yasses tops the list with 11 alleged violations.

All of the violations have been corrected, according to the report.

The violations are on properties Yasses or his wife own and are rental properties.

Today, Yasses noted that it was Trine Properties, Inc. that bought 507 Ellicott St., not Jeremy Yasses. Yasses said he's just an officer in the company and there are investors that back Trine.

Trine does not want to buy the Ellicott Street residence in order to turn it into a rental. The intention, Yasses said, is to rehabilitate it and sell it.

To help make his case, Yasses sent a letter to the city -- included in the council agenda package -- outlining his plans for the property and including before and after pictures of properties his company has previously rehabilitated.

Yasses says he wants to get out of the rental business -- if only he could sell his current properties -- and just deal in rehab projects.

He has been involved in rehabilitating about a dozen properties in Genesee and Orleans counties over the past two years. He's just about to sell a place in Alabama that after rehab has increased in assessed value by $20,000.

"I want to make the house beautiful and improve the neighborhood," Yasses said. "I think that's what the council is after. It would be a positive for the city."

Previously:

• Landlord who was denied auction property defends his record
• Council's auction vote got the attention of landlords, but not necessarily in a good way