the "long game" has paid off.

[74AD]

I would have normally dug up the old thread to add a comment to it, but since those are gone I'll update here.

in 2010 our neighbors house burnt down and he decided not to rebuild it and just moved away. We considered offering to buy the property from him but didn't because we couldn't afford the property and what it would cost to have the house taken down and disposed of.

a couple of years later the fire dept did a training exercise with it and burned it to the ground but it was still a mess with the cinderblock foundation (which was above ground) remaining. It sat like that for 6 months until the township made him deal with it and an excavator did a rather hasty and sloppy job burying the blocks and debris.

For reasons unknown he stopped paying his taxes and they just kept compounding and adding up. In May 2013 the house was going to be sold for back taxes. It was like $2000. I was ready to buy it, but at the last minute he paid taxes to clear the most delinquent year of taxes and the property was removed from sale. He didn't pay anything more and it went back on sale again in Sept. It was going to auction for $2300. I was ready to buy it but we were on vacation that day and out of town. It went unsold at auction. Today it went up for sale again, this time it was a judicial or free and clear sale. All liens and back taxes were waived. Starting price was $1057. I took $2000 in cash with me. I didn't need that much as I was the only bidder. Got it for the minimum.

As a bonus, Rice energy is leasing up all of our little town and giving $500 signing bonuses for parcels under 1/4 of an acre so we can sign up with them (we did this for our main house) and get $500 back meaning we're working at a $600 net for the purchase!

Also found out real estate taxes are $25 / year and school taxes only $200 so even the taxes aren't that bad to have it as an extension of our lots.