pieces of property offered at annual tax sale

Connie Smith of Indiana studies property listings as they are read aloud during the Warren County tax sale at the Warren County Courthouse Monday.(Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)

[8/26/03]With more than 1,200 pieces of property to sell at auction, Warren County Tax Collector Pat Simrall seemed to get off to a good start at noon Monday, but the process bogged down by mid-afternoon.

Investors have been flocking to courthouses here and across the state this week to pay property taxes for landowners who have failed to ante up amounts due on Jan. 1.

In turn, the owners will have to pay the investors 1.5 percent interest per month plus the taxes due to remove the liens. For investors, it’s a way to get a better rate of return than banks or the markets have been paying. For counties, it’s a way to get all the operating cash they need to fund their budgets.

“It’s 2:30 and we are only in the D’s,” Simrall said.

The sales are held after delinquent tax notices are published every year, and the pace picked up and Warren County’s sale ended at 6:30 Monday. Simrall said a tally on the total paid won’t be available for several days.

The process is statutory and is designed to make sure the public isn’t left holding the bag for taxes due.

If a delinquent landowner does not redeem the parcel within three tax years, the buyer or buyers who paid the taxes can apply for a tax deed to become owner of the land. That, however, is not common.

Usually the owner or owners, sometimes a group of heirs, sell the land or otherwise come up with the amount due and pay the back taxes, fees and the interest charged. When that happens, the investor gets his money back and makes a profit.

After entering the chancery courtroom on the third floor of the courthouse, Simrall told the packed room she would allow people who only wanted to bid on one to five pieces of property, on heir property or those who intended to spend $1,000 or less to enter their bids ahead of the investor bidders. That process was soon abandoned when investor bidders objected when some non-investors bid on more than five parcels.

Simrall also warned the potential bidders if they won the bidding on the property, they had to pay for it and they had better have the ability to pay. She also said she would not tolerate any bad checks.

The crowd thinned after heir property and some other parcels were sold.

One potential buyer, Connie Smith, came to the sale from Indiana. She said she was reared in Vicksburg and came home specially for the sale.

James Cox of Vicksburg said he and his wife were not really sure what they will do with a lot on Mississippi 465 at Eagle Lake on which they bought the tax lien. He said this was the second year he’s bid on the property.

“Maybe a vacation home,” he said of the possibility he will get a tax deed after next year.