ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 24, 1996 TAG: 9606240090
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
LAST YEAR, ROANOKE COUNTY OFFICIALS selected 100 tracts of land on which taxes are owed and started the process for selling them. The remaining 25 will go on the block Tuesday at 10 a.m.
Aaron and Artie Thornton are a little behind on their real estate taxes.
That's understandable, since they died in the 1920s.
The couple's 6.75-acre lot is one of 25 scheduled to be sold this week as part of Roanoke County's first judicial sale of properties with delinquent real estate taxes. The sale will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Roanoke County Circuit Courthouse at 305 E. Main St., Salem.
Although the Thorntons have been dead for decades, it wasn't until recently that tax liens began to accumulate. The Rev. Joseph Keaton, who lives next to the Thornton property on Deborah Lane, said one of his neighbors has been paying taxes on the land for years. He believes she was a distant relative of the Thorntons'. Shortly before she died five years ago, she encouraged Keaton to try to get title to the land for himself.
The Baptist minister soon ran into problems, however, because the Thorntons had never identified an heir for the land. His attorney advised him against paying taxes for people who have been dead for 60 years.
"I would end up just throwing my money out the window," Keaton said.
Instead, Keaton hopes to purchase the land through the judicial sale, which will give him a clear title to the property.
Last year, county officials selected 100 tracts with delinquent bills - representing more than $250,000 in taxes - and started the process for selling them. The owners for 75 of those parcels have paid up since then, bringing in $190,000. That leaves 25 parcels with unpaid bills totaling $60,000. Owners still have until 5 p.m. today to pay and stop the sale of their land.
In many cases, the identity of the owner is unclear. About a third involve cases like the Thorntons where a deceased landowner did not identify an heir.
Chris Bland, president of the Harrisonburg-based Bland Land Co. that was chosen as auctioneer for the sale, said many of the parcels for sale are located in several clusters in the county. There's a cluster in the area southeast of Tanglewood Mall, another in Glenvar, two in Vinton and one along U.S. 11 between Hollins College and the Botetourt County line.
Based on 1995 figures, the total assessed value of the land is $600,000, ranging per parcel from $1,000 to $153,900.
The most valuable piece is a 3-acre wooded lot at Virginia 419 and McVitty Road owned by Roanoke developer Richard Hamlett and used car dealer Robert C. Bell. Hamlett and his wife, actress Debbie Reynolds, recently divorced. As part of the settlement, a judge awarded Reynolds $8.9 million in property, attorney fees and money she says Hamlett borrowed from her.
Hamlett's attorney, John Acree, said he had no information on the parcel up for sale and could not say whether it was involved in the divorce settlement.
Bland said he expects two parcels containing seven acres, located near the intersection of Virginia 419 and U.S. 220 just around the corner from Tanglewood Mall, to attract more than one bidder.
"That'd be a piece of property with a rich future," he said.
If the sale price for a particular piece of land doesn't cover the taxes owed, a judge can reject it, said Steven Agee, the special commissioner overseeing the process. All money from the sales in excess of the taxes owed will be placed in a trust fund in case any of the legal owners come forward. The judge will decide how long the money stays there before it can be claimed by the county.
Roanoke County Treasurer Alfred Anderson said properties with delinquent taxes have been turned over in the past to the state for escheat sales, but state officials never actually got around to scheduling one.
In any event, Bland said, there's likely to be more interest in a judicial sale.
"From the buyer's perspective, this is a lot better deal," he said.
That's because land titles aren't cleared in an escheat sale as they are for judicial sales. The buyer is buying "a pig in a poke," Anderson said, because there may be hidden liens or other encumbrances on the property.
It's also better from the county's perspective, because the county keeps the money from a judicial sale, while the proceeds from an escheat sale go to the state.
Anderson said the legal work already has begun for 30 more parcels with tax liens on them. They represent the final delinquent accounts on the county's books that qualify for a judicial sale, he said. He said that sale would likely be scheduled for sometime next year.
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