Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKY MOUNT LENGTH: Medium
CHEAP ACRES NOW COSTLY ACHES
Maybe the best thing that can be said about the three acres James Chambers bought in January 1992 is: He won't have to pay taxes on it."I bought it," Chambers said Wednesday to a man who would have been his neighbor, "and it's not here. I bought air."
Chambers actually bought two pieces of land at a Franklin County escheat sale. The other was on the side of a mountain, west of Boones Mill.
The process of escheating land goes back to feudal times. In Virginia, if no taxes are paid on a piece of land for 10 years, the state claims the land and auctions it.
People are attracted to escheat auctions - held in some Virginia localities once a year - because they could come up with a real steal. But, as Chambers found out, there's a risk.
"They're told up front, several times, `You're buying a pig in a poke. Go find the land before you buy it,'" said Dorothy Dillon, Franklin County's designated escheator.
The idea of escheating is to bring land back into use. In Chambers' case, there was no land to be used.
The three acres, for which he paid $1,100, were supposed to have road frontage on Virginia 906 - between the Poindexter and Helms tracts, the tax map showed.
But a surveyor hired by Chambers found that the Poindexter and Helms properties touched, which meant Chambers had no land.
"It's like playing the shell game," Chambers said. "Now you see the money under the shell, now you don't."
People who buy land at an escheat sale have 120 days to try to find the land. If the land doesn't exist as it was described at the auction, the buyer gets his money back - minus the cost of the sale.
Sometimes the property does not exist because of a mistake in land records, Dillon said. Other mistakes can be attributed to the age of Franklin County's records.
Chambers waited too long to check out the Rocky Mount property. Now, his only recourse is the General Assembly.
Del. Willard Finney, D-Rocky Mount, introduced a bill asking the state to reimburse Chambers the $1,100 he bid for the land. The bill is in committee.
Then there was the second piece of land: Twenty-nine acres on Cahas Mountain. On a clear day, with the foliage off the trees, Chambers could see Smith Mountain Lake.
The Chamberses bid $2,500 for the mountain land.
After much research, including a trip to sift through old records in Richmond, they found that land probably was there. Somewhere.
The problem was, it was last surveyed in the late 1800s. Unable to stake off their 29 acres, the Chamberses gave that land back to the state before their 120-day refund period was up.
"It would be a nice piece of property," Chambers said, "if you could ever identify it."