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There are not any "anti-flipping laws" to begin with. In the city's tax foreclosure sale this past October, purchasers were required to sign a vague statement that housing code violations would be corrected and that the property would not be sold for more than a 20% profit, both within 6 months. There have been violations of this but the Anti Fliipping Task Force has been silent.

Thanks David for following this property.

scott weinstein should be targeted by the former parishoners and members of the community for the SCUM that he is!

*Dear God: Please move the heart of Scott Weinstein to act honorably in this situation*

If he was truly serious about selling to a more capable owner he'd use a real estate broker instead of E-bay.

I first visited St. Matthew's on Good Friday with an intrepid crew of local preservation minded people, fellow urbanists and a crew of photographers from Toronto.

At the time Scott Weinstein & his ReDeal Partners LLC were not the owners. The downward spiral began with the Diocesan "Deaccession" in 1998 when St. Matthew's was sold to a poorly capitalized congregation.

When we entered the sanctuary for the first time there were no pews, alter and most of the architecturally significant detail, including the wood trim surrounding most of the doorways, had been stripped.

We were in awe, actually stunned...that owners would leave a building like this freely accessible. We left the church through the same open basement window we had entered.

I suggested to Scott, two weeks ago, via a "testy" email exchange - that he properly secure the site. He hasn't. The same basement window - Moselle Street side remains now only partially boarded and so not secure. Neighbors informed that the window had been open for months...

St. Matthew's downward spiral will continue with any poorly capitalized plan. First step - as with any project, including on the scale of HH Richardson - is to properly the secure the site.

Lots of questions here...and not many answers coming from Scott Weinstein.

This is the exactly the type of banter that keeps me from investing in the city. I own nine respectable properties in Amherst, Clarence, and Cheektowaga; however I hesiate to invest within the City limits. Properties that are neglected or require a massive investment to come up to code are too much of a liability for a small investor like me. All it takes is one mis-step and you are labeled a scumbag or predator. I love the city and have looked at several residential and two commercial properties in the city, but upon further inspection I would prefer to not risk my reputation and resources. The only property that I have in the city is my North Buffalo residence that I have owned for the past 12 years. It is a shame that as a private investor I have to worry about being publically shamed for making a profit on my property by an overly biased gadfly with nothing better to do with his time than to further his one sided agenda. It just isn't worth it to even bother with the city anymore.

Though it seems that he is violating the anti-flipping laws, you have to hand it to this guy who is making a savvy real estate investment. Though eBay isn't the best forum to sell real estate on, it gets the job done and makes the property available to an enourmous amount of people worldwide. It possilbe the sale of this church will bring in a new project with a fresh new idea for the place. Ideally, he'll take the profit and invest it back into the city.

For those following this -

EBay Item number: 330117130628 ends May 13, 2007

SOLD April 27, 2007 for $51,100 ( Item number: 330111700185 ) but was re-listed.

Urbanesque...

Huh? Wow...didn't know blogs could stop people from investing in the City.

Others...

Making money is fine. Wondering what the 120% rule is and how it applies to this specific case. Still waiting to hear from Mayor's Anti-Flipping Task Force on this.

Ebay brings certain efficiencies to the market place, no doubt. Take serious challenge to the claim from JET2Vegas that ebay is "much better way" to sell cheap properties. Where's the data besides any anecdotal evidence that you might be gathering.

Presumably these guys knew what they were getting into before they bought St. Matthew's.

Sal...thanks!

Sal:

This earlier eBay ad that we all missed is amazing. The deed was filed for $3500 under RE/DEAL PARTNERS LLC on April 13

The eBay ad, and the $51K sale, ended April 27, a mere two weeks later. When was it posted? If the ad ran for a week, it would have been posted April 20, a mere week after purchase.

Weinstein sold the church for 14X his purchase price about two weeks after filing the deed!

Clearly, THIS IS A TEST!

R. Kern

urbanesque: you can take your toys and go home now... nothing wrong w/ trying to make money off city real estate but don't whine about it or attempt to draw larger meaning to this. if you think you can make money off city property, do it or don't. if you do purchase a property, you have the responsibility to keep it up, no matter how bad your tenants are or whether the city does anything to enforce the codes. don't blame the messengers if YOU do not live up to your end of the bargain. Really, can you blame those who post critical comments when so many of our churches have been raped over the years?

The property is going to deteriorate just as much if it goes unsold at the foreclosure auction, as if it gets flipped.

I think the real question is, how much money is the City leaving on the table by not using Ebay itself?

RobH - to answer your question, the city isn't leaving any money on the table. The foreclosure proceeds are used to pay back taxes, water and garbage user fees, then mortgages and lienholders. If there was money leftover, it would go to the former owner (an extremely rare event.) The city can make money by selling off unused property it owns, however politics and incompetence plays a role in that scenario in my view.

Mothballing the structure by proper sealing and maintenance of the roof would be proper, for when/if the neighborhoods area turns around. Even if the rest of the neighborhood was leveled, a building like this could make a nice keystone to new development. These places are never getting built again. Just look at the new churches being built, or any structure for that matter. We will never see this level of material and craftsmanship again. To just throw it away to a landfill is ridiculous, as is not properly sealing it.

The church has had the holes in the roof, broken windows, etc since before they bid on the property. The condition of the neighborhood did not change in the past 6 months. They knew all well what they were getting into. To act like things suddenly changed when the deed was finalized is B.S. It’s hard to see any intention other than wanting to flip the property. A community center? How would that have generated any income to not only stabilize the building from the elements, but to run it? The neighborhood is not full of money.

People do have a right to make money but not at any cost. Hence the anti flipping laws. Why should these owners be allowed to continually be allowed to flip these properties at a profit just to allow the property demo bill to end up on the city’s and taxpayers bill down the road when the building is no longer viable (Transfiguration)? The city pry could of demo’d it now to save future headaches but chose to sell it to recoup some money in a good faith agreement for the new owner to bring it up to code (I doubt holes in the roof and broken windows meet code) and not sell it for 6 months for more than 120% profit. In less than a month these are being openly broken.

I don’t see how this should stop people from wanting to invest in the city. A show of any effort pry would have brought out helping hands/volunteers to see it succeed. A show of effort to only fail down the road would have been understood and most likely thanked. But no effort (besides mowing the lawn and half ass boarding up a window) should not be tolerated and should be called out. To allow this profiting off the tax payers backs (for ultimate demo costs and continual re-ownership through tax-seizing would be stupid on all our parts. We all complain about our state taxes but where do we think all the city aid is coming from?

Maybe he is doe eyed and naïve and somehow as a business man got in over his head. Maybe he was tripping on acid when he went to look at it and saw magical rainbows and fluffy creatures dancing around the property but no realizes that it is a HUGE undertaking and always has been. If his heart is there, sell it to a worthy owner for acquisition cost, + lawyer/transfer fess + lawn mowing time + a 30% profit to really ensure the original “dream” remains viable.

We all lose if stuff like this is allowed to continue. And the usual FYI, I bought my house with open vacant houses near by, so I do “put my money and life, where my mouth is.

I believe the Mayor's AFTF should closely watch the sale of 170 Florida which was sold in the same sale.

For those interested start with http://ecclerk.erie.gov:9080/prod_public_view/detail_frame.jsp?doc_id=17899900.

There needs to be much more public debate about how to address Bflo's massive surplus of housing, commerical structures & churches.

Because churches represent such irreplaceable architectual beauty, a special endeavor to rank their merit & measures to protect them is in order.

Commissioner of Permits & Inspections Rich Tobe summarized on Michele Johnson's radio show last week that the City has allocated $14 million for demolitions in the coming fiscal year.

Listen at: http://wnymedia.net/index.php?option...d=16&Itemid=46

The city has $6 million for demolitions in the new budget beginning July 1 & is awaiting $8 million more from NYS. Tobe also expressed stong support for deconstruction & its potential to create neighborhood jobs, while reducing landfill.

Tobe reviewed some shocking statistics:

a. 40% of fire calls are to vacant structures

b. The city did 144 emergency demo’s last year at a cost of $2.4 million.

c. There are over 22,000 housing vacancies (NOTE: he referred to 2000 Census, likely 25,000 today?) in 10,000 vacant structures.

d. There are 7 vacant units for every 100 persons in Bflo.

e. It costs the city $20,000 to maintain a city-owned house over 5 years

f. The city plans to demolish 1,000 structures annually for a decade.

It was also good to hear from Tobe that there are clearer criteria & priorities for determining order of demo’s:

1. Emergency demo of dangerous or fire-destroyed house or structure.

2. Bad houses by public institution (school, agency, etc)

3. Good block with single bad house

4. Proposed site for new housing

5. Eventual landbanking (badly needed, but Tobe not promising it immediately)

Tobe also committed to removing any house (building?) from the demo list for 6 months if interested parties want to explore their capacity to rehab it.

There are no easy answers, but clearly there needs to be more thought, planning & accountable follow-up.

R. Kern

David Torke has notified us . . .

. . . tipped off a few hours ago that the St. Matthew's auction - Ebay # 330117130628 has been pulled! Hoping to have further details some time tomorrow morning...

"The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Melanie Gregg, 570-7991

May 10, 2007 Monica Pellegrino, 885-9630

EAST SIDE PROPERTY REMOVED FROM EBAY

BUFFALO— The Mayor's Anti-Flipping Task Force today announced the successful removal of a Buffalo property listed on eBay. The property, formerly St. Matthew's Church at 1066 East Ferry Street, was removed thanks to the collective efforts of the City of Buffalo, the Task Force and the property owner. The property was purchased at the City of Buffalo's In-Rem auction in October 2006.

"The fact that the public is aware of the efforts of the Anti-Flipping Task Force and that they seek out recommendations on property sales shows that our message is getting out effectively," said Mayor Byron W. Brown. "The community, the AFTF, the City of Buffalo, New York State, and the seller all came together to remove this property from eBay. This shows how serious we are about preventing fraudulent flipping in the City of Buffalo."

State Senator Stachowksi, AFTF Co-Chair stated, "The AFTF has been very diligent and thorough in exploring ways we can prevent illegal flipping in the City of Buffalo. This is a perfect example of a potential illegal flip, but better yet, it's a perfect example of the AFTF's ability to respond to a situation of this nature."

"This decisive action is further indication that the AFTF is achieving the results that we hoped it would when we created the Task Force two years ago," said Assemblymember Sam Hoyt, Co-Chair of the AFTF.

Members of the community contacted the Mayor's Anti-Flipping Task Force with concerns about the property listing on eBay. The AFTF then contacted the City of Buffalo Department of Economic Development, Permit and Inspection Services, the Department of Law and the Office of Strategic Planning to establish whether the sale on eBay violated provisions of the In-Rem contract. The City concluded that the proposed sale would violate the terms of the City contract. The AFTF notified the owner and he withdrew the property from eBay.

"We are very pleased that this process worked effectively and quickly. This experience demonstrates that the community, AFTF members, and the City of Buffalo, are committed to protecting Buffalo neighborhoods. We have succeeded in preventing a cycle of destructive flipping with respect to a significant East Side property" said Kathleen A. Lynch, Esq., AFTF Coordinator.

Monica M. Pellegrino Community Development Project Manager

Assemblymember Sam Hoyt 936 Delaware Avenue Buffalo, NY 14209 716.885.9630 716.885.9636 fax www.samhoyt.com