It was standing room only at the Mattapoisett Town Auction on January 24. The town put five parcels up for bid for non-payment of taxes. The fifty plus people filled the conference room overflowing into the hallway.
Auctioneer Paul Zekos of Municipal Auction Strategies explained that all properties were being sold as is where is without any warrantee and it was up to the bidder to be certain they were educated about the properties. All properties were all being sold free and clear of taxes owed, but buyers would be required to pay the taxes for the properties for the 2012-13 tax period and an 8% buyers premium added on to the sale price.
The first item up for bid was a house on .6 acres of land located at 86 Marion Road, which is Route 6 on the east end of town. The high bid for this lot was $60,000 but the property was not sold. All sales were contingent on meeting a minimum bid predetermined by the town and this offer was considered too low as verified by Brenda Herbeck the Tax Title Custodian.
The next four lots were all parcels of land without buildings. A vacant, unbuildable lot, located at High-On-A-Hill Road was sold for $6,500 and vacant, unbuildable lot on Brandt Island Road was sold for $6,250. The last two lots did not sell, as there were no bids at the town-required minimum. A one-acre parcel of marsh on Cove Street had a minimum of $2,200, which was not met, and a 2-acre parcel just south of the Rochester town line had no bids at the $32,600 minimum.
By Paul Lopes