Getting
Abandoned
Houses

So, you want an abandoned house?

  We thought it would be as easy as telling the right person we had the resources to fix up a property and we would get one! Unfortunately, this was not the case. This is our research as to the ways one can get abandoned houses. Please take it for what it is - our research. Every case is unique. If you want some help, give us a call.
   Something that became very clear to us as we went through this process is that it is nearly impossible to do any of these on your own. Although the process is supposed to be for individuals that need housing, we've found out this is nearly impossible. (See the Myths.) The most important thing to have is PATIENCE! It's been over a year and-a-half for our process.

1st step: The first step is figuring out what house you want. You can do this by just driving around, writing down addresses you are interested in. Then you need to find out who the owner is. You can do this at CITY HALL records, Room 154. (Or from your City Councilperson.) What's most likely is the owner will be unreachable with no chance of finding them. The chance to buy property from them is unlikely. Unfortunately, you must work through the system.

2nd step: Get the properties appraised and do title search to find out back taxes owed and any mortgages. There is a small possibility that you can convince the insurance and mortgage companies that they should forgive the debt owed (especially if you are tax-exempt) and provide clear title (which is important in most of your options).

3rd step: Figure out which option (below) will work best for your situation. A good thing to do would be going to the Redevelopment Authority and talking to someone who could help you plan a strategy. It's also important to gain the support of the community (a petition of neighbors, store owners, and other people can't hurt.)

Other options:

Privately Owned: If you find the owner (not an easy task) you can try buying the property from owner. This usually means taking over any taxes not paid and mortgages still leveled against properties. For example, the mortgage company that the owner of our property borrowed from was still owed $200,000. They wouldn't provide clear title for a sale unless they were paid.

Donor/Taker program: You must find the owner. The City (through the RDA) forgives back taxes and water bills, but not mortgages. DT may be a good possibility if there is little owed on the property and the owner wants rid of it. (Check out the Myths about this choice)

Act 94 condemnation: Condemns the property. The city can choose to donate it. Only works if the city is set to condemn the property, otherwise to initiate the condemnation costs tens of thousands of dollars. (Check out the Myths about this choice)

Gift property program (not the dollar program, formerly the $1 houses): The gift house list is approximately >5% of the abandoned properties. And as you can imagine the houses are in horrible dissrepair. The folks that have the resources to fix the properties are not eligable for them.The people that qualify (section 8) can't afford to fix them up. (Check out the Myths about this choice)

Takeover houses (squatters rights): squatting is sometimes the most realistic solution for families living on the street. Takeover is a way to go into abandoned houses and use them for your family with organized support behind your actions. (You really need organized support, call KWRU.) Rarely can a family live in a house like this for very long, usually just waiting for Section 8 to come through. Squatters rights state you can "own" the property after 7 years of living in and fixing up a property. (We support going into city and federally owned property - it's easy to find out which these are, and it takes them longer to throw you out.)

Auctions: Tax-lien auctions, mortgage auctions: Each month the city auctions off abandoned properties and properties that have tax deliquency and mortgage deliquencicy. You can pay 800$ per property to put them on auction (it won't happen for at least a year) and the auction needs 10% down on the day of auction. Find out (through RDA or council or title search) what the back taxes are owed and the bidding will most probably start there. For mortgages, it's a little different. (at least a few thousand dollars) Bidding is usually done by lawyers and such... Doesn't work for individuals to put houses up for auction because of the wait. The system truely works for itself. The RDA has worked slow, but faster than any one individual or organization even could. Rumor says that a city councilperson has the most power in this auction process. (Check out the Myths about this choice)

a house on the "gift property" list