The city of Fulton is putting up for bids five properties seized for not paying property taxes.
The homes are:
- 425 W. First St. S.;
- 3 Ellen St.;
- 169 W. First St. S.;
- 711 Oneida St., and;
- 188 S. Second St.
The bid auctions are part of an expanded strategy to get more seized homes back into private hands. Mayor Ron Woodward had pursued a plan of renovating seized homes and selling them at market rates only to people who would live in the homes. Under pressure from the Common Council, his administration is also selling seized homes in the more traditional manner of trading them for the amount owed in back taxes plus the city’s cost of selling the property.
But in a nod to his original strategy of fixing up seized homes in order to bring them up to city codes, Woodward said that the city will also require the new owners to make certain repairs to each home, on a case by case basis.
The contract will require owners to make those repairs within four months, though Woodward said that if there are special circumstances, the new owner can come to the city and ask for an extension.
“We want them to do the outside work first. If it needs a roof, do the roof first. If it’s the siding, do the siding first,” said Woodward. “We gotta make them good to work inside.”
There are other requirements, such as installing high efficiency furnaces if the furnace needs to be replaced.
The city is moving quickly to sell the homes so that new owners can finish outside work before winter. Bid packages for each of the properties are available at City Hall. Bids will be opened in mid-October.
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How about if the city cleans up the property they are renting out on Utica Street? And the lawn of the vacant house on Utica Street?