If you're looking to buy property in Philadelphia for a price you can't beat, you're in luck. Beginning next week, the city will auction off 200 vacant homes for dirt cheap prices. At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Max Spann Real Estate and Auction Company will once again join forces with the Philadelphia Housing Authority for a huge, one-day event where houses and vacant lots will be flipped. It's a bidder's perverted dream.
Larry McKnight, an auction veteran, told NBC Philadelphia that he bought his house in Fishtown at last year's event before fixing it up and selling it off. “We put about $90,000 to $95, 000 into it and sold it for $285, 000,” he said.
At the auction, houses are typically sold for between $2,000 and $200,000. Officials believe the event could raise around $2 million, which would aid the Philadelphia Housing Authority greatly. PHA President and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah says the sale of unused property will generate "badly needed revenue" for other initiatives.
According to auctioneers, 341 properties were sold at the first auction in the fall of 2011, which raised $6.4 million. Bidders should be ready to cut checks for 10 percent of their winning bid, and the list of available properties can be viewed here.
[via NBC Philadelphia]
