Utah County, Utah Tax Deed Sale

Utah County, Utah Tax Foreclosure Auction

Today I attended the Utah County, Utah Tax Deed Sale. There were a total of 31 properties sold at this auction. The room was filled to the brim. One gentleman was in such a hurry to get to this auction - he parked behind a sheriff and almost got towed. He did however get a ticket. Two properties sold were buildable they went for $30,000 and $23,000. All of the other properties were strips of land and surprisingly also went for hundreds and even a thousand at times. Who buys a strip of land for $6,000!?!?!?! Especially purchasing a green belt for that much when the assessed value is only a few hundred... it's beyond me.

In this auction they were bidding up the minimum bid, and the highest bidder was the winning bidder. After the last winning bid was announced they adjourned for exactly one hour - so everyone could go get their money. If there were anyone that failed to pay the winning bid - they would re-auction the property at that time. It would be pretty genius to have someone bid a property up really high for you (if there was a lot of competition) and have them not pay - then attend the adjournment (which very few people come to) and get it at opening bid. What a great idea!

So glad this county only does the "bid down the interest" method on houses now. Hopefully some day they will do a "normal" auction like other Utah counties, with exception to Salt Lake County.