“It went very well,”Weich said. “We had 119 parcels and we sold 96 of them, leaving us with 23 unsold parcels, giving us sales of about $2.5 million.”
Weich says proceeds from these auctions used to go to the county for things like blighted property demolitions. However, a 2023 lawsuit started requiring the owners of foreclosed properties to be paid any excess funds their auctions generated above their back taxes.
“At this time, we are not doing any demolitions because we’re involved in lawsuits for excess proceeds that go back a number of years. We have to see what the final dollar amount is that we will have to be paid to pay out.”
Weich says among the big properties sold in this week’s auction was the former Modern Plastics site in Benton Harbor. The buyer offered the minimum bid of $752,000. The buyer has not yet been identified because Weich says they have until Sunday to pay. The site is seven parcels, one of which has a building on it.
Other notable properties to be sold was a lakefront parcel in Chikaming Township and a residential property in Benton Township that sold for $105,000, well over the minimum bid of $13,000. Weich says properties all over the county went.
The 23 unsold parcels will be back up for grabs in the next county land auction, which will be held by the end of the year.