Two Rosemont Homes on the Public Auction Block

It sounds almost too good to be true: A home in Rosemont hitting the auction block for $16,000, and another for $22,200.

But there is a catch: Those are just the starting bids, and potential buyers can’t walk through the homes in Monday’s Sacramento County tax default property auction. The sale will be held at 10 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors Chambers, 700 H St.

Homes make it to this auction because they have past-due property taxes that are at least five years old, said Sacramento County Tax and License Manager Guy Fuson.

“Five years ago, these people stopped paying their taxes,” Fuson said, adding that some still live in the homes or rent them out. “They may have only paid one year [since then]. Most of them haven’t paid anything in the last five years.”

The minimum bids are determined by the amount of past-due taxes plus the cost to sell the property, he said.

The two Rosemont homes that made the list of properties set to be auctioned next week are 9017 Brydon Way and 3501 Imperial Way.

These houses have back taxes like all the others, but the Imperial Way home also has an IRS lien. Fuson said mortgages and most other liens vanish after this auction, but a new owner may still be stuck paying for an IRS lien, which "doesn’t necessarily go away."

And don’t expect to move in next month. A prior owner or lien-holder has one year after the sale to challenge it in court.

“They could challenge it on a number of technical grounds,” Fuson said, adding that the challengers would be looking for “technicalities” or information that was overlooked. “In cases like that, we advise people to [not] really put any money into the property until you know you’re going to be able to keep it.”

If it sounds like next week’s auction has a lot of potential pitfalls, it’s because it does.

“This is not a sale for the faint of heart,” Fuson said. “You really need to know what you’re doing, because you can end up buying a piece of property that you don’t really want.”

Fusion said the sales attract a lot of spectators, but most of the bidders are seasoned investors or neighbors who already know the condition and backstory of the homes.

Oh, and one last thing: bring cash. Payment is due the day of the auction.

UPDATE, 8:30 a.m. Monday: The property on Brydon Way has been removed from the auction list.