Buffalo Rising Online

It is good to see the City and County finally step up to the plate to help the less fortunate in our area. They have sat by silently as thousands of homeowners and renters have been thrown to the streets at the hands of greedy mortgage companies, banks, and speculators.

I know a family who was just evicted from their home because their landlord stopped making payments on the properties six months ago. They have been paying the landlord religiously every month, they take care of the landscaping and do light repairs as needed to help out the landlord, but in the end the landlord was pocketing their money instead of paying the mortgage. Now the bank has foreclosed, they cannot contact the landlord, he has declared bancruptcy through his property company, and he is walking away with the money, including their security deposit. They have limited rights and options available to them because they are renters. I hope that someone at one of the links above will be able to help them out before they are forced to move.

It is sad to see how much greed can pervert people to the point that they will commit autrocities such as stealing money from the less fortunate then throwing them out in the streets.

The number of parcles listed on the in-rem auction list is utterly overwhelming totalling about 4340. That is 2,794 residential properties, 360 commercial properties, & 1,187 vacant lots.

Here is the latest from Bflo News, dated Oct 12.

COPY: http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/story/461293.html

BUFFALO Officials offer owners help avoiding tax foreclosures

By Brian Meyer NEWS STAFF REPORTER, Updated: 10/12/08 8:18 AM

City officials are urging nearly 2,800 homeowners and 360 commercial landlords to set up payment plans to avert losing their properties at a foreclosure auction this month. The property owners have ignored multiple written warnings, spurring city administrators to issue an oral appeal last week. At sessions scheduled for this week, lawyers will help owners arrange payment plans and obtain court orders to prevent the sale of their properties.

Deputy Mayor Donna M. Brown, the city administration’s chief crusader against poverty, says she believes many people are paralyzed by anxiety as they struggle to avoid losing homes and investment properties.

“Get out of the fear factor mode, because we know it’s stressful,” Brown said. City officials are encouraging those who are delinquent in paying property taxes and garbage user fees to come to the Erie County Court Building at 25 Delaware Ave. on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Experts will guide them through the process of avoiding foreclosure. Lawyers will be present from 9:30 a. m. until 3:30 p. m. on those days.

“We’ll do anything we can to help these people,” said Martin F. Kennedy, commissioner of assessment and taxation. In addition to the 2,794 residential properties and 360 commercial properties, the foreclosure list includes 1,187 vacant lots.

Kennedy said the number of properties is slightly higher than during a similar period a year ago. But he said he hoped many owners will settle their debts or finalize payment plans before the city’s three-day auction begins Oct. 20 in the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. In the past 10 weeks, the number of residential properties on the foreclosure list has dropped by nearly 20 percent. “People have come in and paid their taxes,” Kennedy said.

More than 2,600 were put up for sale a year ago, and whether this year’s total will be higher remains to be seen.

The global financial crisis is prompting some city officials to predict that local foreclosure rates could increase next year. “The economy is going in the tank,” First Deputy Mayor Steven M. Casey said, referring to turmoil on Wall Street and in worldwide financial markets.

Brown agreed, saying some local residents might face long-term fallout from the economic crisis. “I think you’re going to see new faces as it relates to poverty,” she said.

bmeyer@buffnews.com

yeah it is a little overwhelming. I just geocoded them all on a map to see their distribution. A little obvious for the most part but there is an interesting pattern on the near east side.. very few. It looks like most of the problem properties on this list are from Jefferson East and Bailey west.

PaulBuffalo, I am hoping to maybe post them online tomorrow if you were interested I will post back here the links. Maybe if I feel ambitious I can write a little post around it.

The health of a street or neighborhood can be measured by how few properties are on the IN-rem auction list. Below are the properties by zip code that I calculated from the City website updates on May 22, Septmeber 15 ("now") & October 6.

As you can see, zip code is devastated (1263 parcels for sale), folowed by 14212 with 693.

COPY: In-rem list by zip code (May 22), Sept 15 ("now") & October 6 updated:

14201 (89 Properties) now 64 10/6: 85 14202 (8 properties) now 8 10/16: 814203 (11 prop) now 7 10/16: 4 14204 (92 prop) now 93 10/16: 88 14206 (327 prop) now 327 10/6: 312 14207 (188 prop) now 162 10/16: 149 14208 (299 prop) now 316 10/6: 300 14209 (102 prop) now 110 10/6 107 14210 (207 prop) now 212 10/6: 202 14211 (1073 prop) now 1299 10/6: 1263 14212 (532 prop) now 702 10/6: 693 14213 (422 prop) now 378 10/6: 357 14214 (190 prop) now 190 10/6: 176 14215 (720 prop) now 600 10/6: 471 14216 (56 prop) now 26 10/16: 20 14220 (131 prop) now 76 10/16: 74 14222 (19 prop) now 12 10/16: 7

TOTAL 4466 properties (now 4582) 10/6: 4182

hey, I can finally log in... is there any reason why BRO won't load or let me log in for probably 6 hours in a day... Really annoying.

Either way here are some of the maps and information that I distilled from the information on the city's website.

There are other files of each individual council district here.

Can you see the individual council district images past the link? If not maybe I will post them here as well.

it is interesting to not that 20% of the residential parcels in the Fillmore district are on this Inrem list.. that's a shocking.

It is reassuring that he City has extended counseling another day to save more properties from auction. There are 1000 more properties on the list this year than last, as the City has little or no capacity to takeover more derelict properties.

And it is likely that there will be fewer auction buyers in such a depressed economic climate. Too often sales to investor-speculators simpl beome problems again down the road.

Dick Kern

http://www.buffalonews.com/258/story/465206.html Delinquent property owners offered another day of payment plans

By Brian Meyer, Updated: 10/16/08 12:10 PM

Buffalo property owners who are at risk of seeing their homes or businesses sold at next week's foreclosure auction will have another chance to meet with lawyers to arrange payment plans.

The city is adding a fourth day of counseling sessions in the Erie County Courthouse at 25 Delaware Ave.

Attorneys, court officials and representatives from the city tax office have been meeting with property owners since Tuesday. People can set up payment plans to deal with delinquent property taxes and garbage user fees, then obtain court orders that will remove their parcels from next week's foreclosure sale.

The courthouse counseling was set to conclude late this afternoon, but Assessment and Taxation Commissioner Martin F. Kennedy said counseling sessions will continue Friday. People can receive assistance from 9 a.m. until noon Friday. The sessions might be extended if property owners are still awaiting assistance in the afternoon.

The Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled or Disadvantaged of Western New York and the Volunteer Lawyers Project have worked closely with the city, Judge Sharon Townsend, administrative judge for the 8th Judicial District, and Erie County Judge Michael F. Pietruska.

About 600 property owners obtained court orders blocking the sale of their parcels on Tuesday and Wednesday, Kennedy said.

The city is holding its annual foreclosure sale on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center. As this morning, about 3,600 properties remained on the foreclosure list. Last year, nearly 2,500 properties were put up for sale at the city's auction. For information on the counseling sessions, people can call the Citizens Services unit at 851-4890.

bmeyer@buffnews.com