30 Culham Street, Oakville Results

[PG]

Does anyone have the results of the 30 Culham Street, Oakville Sale?
Regretfully, I was unable to attend.

[Matt]

1- $385.5 K

2- $333.0 K

Total 43 tenders. 

[PG]

Thanks Matt,

Much appreciated.
Unfortunately it would have been too rich for my blood in any event.

Cheers,

Peter

[welcomelm]

Anybody wanna share a reasonable explanation for the 385k tender, which I think this property is not worth, not even close. I think someone is trying to beat any offer just to protect the current owner.

[PG]

Though a bid of 385 seems high for the property in its current condition and for the fact that MPAC assessed the value of the property at 375,000, the reality is that most of the homes are being offered for sale well above their assessed value (though I have no idea if they are actually selling for theirr asking price).

If  the pipes have burst and the home needs $100-140K in renovations, $500,000 is an awful lot of money for a 1000 square foot 1970's suburban house with dwarfish 8' ceilings and no garage. Then again, other war-time monopoly style houses are being listed for similar amounts (but, of course, can be purchased without the assumption of risk that comes with tax sales).

[Dave2]

Anybody wanna share a reasonable explanation for the 385k tender, which I think this property is not worth, not even close. I think someone is trying to beat any offer just to protect the current owner.

Not having looked at this one I don't have a lot of specifics to say other then some general observations.

a) Who the winner is and while Matt is to be applauded for his work I generally like to look at the pattern of the first 10 bids to get an idea of market value.  

For example if a whole bunch of bids are in the $320,000 - $330,000 range that is a reasonable approximation of a value market price given the unknowns that are involved with tax sales.

Specifically on the who:  If the bidder is a knowledgeable individual or in a case like this in the construction business they have knowledge or resources that most of us do not possess.  

A key issue in this case is how much damage does the building have.  A key worry is structural particularly foundation, and is it repairable, how much will it cost or are we looking at demolishing the structure.  

In the latter case what is the land value to the bidder.  

There is one exception to the knowledgeable buyer that always applies; a neighbouring property owner.  The old rule for real estate of; location; location; location.  

In a case like this a higher value is appropriate as most properties have only 3 neighbours assuming fronting on a street.  Getting an adjacent property is difficult and often expensive at the best of times and maybe cheap for land value only.  
 
neigbouring does not have to be physically adjacent as someone may be doing a land assembly for a bigger development.  Some of these take decades of slow patient movement.  

[Matt]

With appreciation of inputs from everyone here, I would like to give my opinion on this tax sale.

First off, as I walked into the room 10 minutes prior to the opening, I was surprised that so many people were already inside.  The room was full with 50-60 people.  An armoured police officer was standing and watching during the opening process - I have ever experienced a tax sale opening with an officer at site.

MPAC assessment of the house is 375K.  The highest bid was well over the assessment. Why did the winner bid so high?  In my opinion, the winner, a couple, is local and has been looking for a house to live in that area.  Maybe, they became tired of shopping the houses listed on MLS.  I think they bought that for personal use, not for business.

I did not enter each bid amount into a computer data base and generate more accurate median bid amount or anything, but I have recorded every bid and felt that the median range was around 210-220k.  This figure I felt was close to or about 60% of the assessment - which is quite predictable.

Other high bids were 301, 306, 311, and 317K - in most tax sales, any of these numbers would be good enough to be the winner.

In any event, the winner bought it for 385.5K.  Is this a good buy?

If the house is in a perfect condition, it is actually not a bad buy.  It is still better than buying one from MLS.
Unless the winner somehow HAS SEEN or BEEN INSIDE the house before the tax sale, however, my answer is sadly no,

Houses in tax sales usually require massive improvements.
Sometimes, there is no way to renovate but to only demolish.
There are just too much of unknowns and unforeseen dangling with every single tax sale.

I also recall sometime somewhere on this board a senior member indicating that there is no money within the GTA area as the competition is so severe and thus the profit margin is zero or negative.  

[Notorious]

1- $385.5 K

2- $333.0 K

Total 43 tenders.  Shocked

Thanks for posting the results.