SCHENECTADY Foreclosures for tax arrears due next month BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
Half of the city’s delinquent taxpayers have ponied up the overdue cash under threat of foreclosure this summer. There’s about 480 properties left to foreclose upon, Land Trust Director Steve Strichman said at the Land Trust’s meeting Thursday. He suggested that the trust rent many of those houses out, at least temporarily. Others will be sold immediately after foreclosure next month. “We’re going to review that and see what can be sold quickly,” Strichman said. He thinks the city will end up taking nearly all of the remaining 480 properties. Originally the city sent out foreclosure notices to the owners of 900 properties. Some were able to get the foreclosure delayed because of bankruptcy fi lings and homestead provisions, which give owner-occupants more time to pay. But many people simply paid. Strichman said 160 of the to-be-foreclosed properties are vacant land, while the rest are mainly houses. They’re clustered in the center of the city. “It’s pretty much what you would expect. A lot in troubled neighborhoods, very little in Woodlawn,” he said. As for renting out the houses, he said the city used to lease property after foreclosure but stopped two decades ago. “It’s a revenue source and it’s also an expense.” Having tenants on the property could prevent some of the problems of vacant housing. Some empty houses in the city have been stripped of copper piping and others have been taken over by drug dealers, prostitutes and the homeless. Sometimes, the squatters accidentally — or deliberately — set their dwellings on fire, which has been a frustrating problem for the Fire Department for years. Vacant houses are also more likely to be hit with graffiti. But rental housing must be maintained at a higher standard than vacant buildings, and someone must enforce rules. “It’s a headache for whoever has to do it,” said Land Trust member Joe Berlant. “The phone calls: ‘My lightbulb burned out! Come replace my lightbulb!’ ” Strichman added, “We’ll be evicting people out of them that don’t pay, and releasing them.” The Land Trust agreed to the plan, but will review leases for each project before the buildings are rented. .........................>>>>.....................>>>>.......................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01401&AppName=1
No it's another expense. Resell these knock downs? To who? The DEM morons are brain dead. No one wants to pay your insane taxes. Bring on the State audit, FBI investigation and State Control Board.
Logged
No it's another expense. Resell these knock downs? To who? The DEM morons are brain dead. No one wants to pay your insane taxes. Bring on the State audit, FBI investigation and State Control Board. 
