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Five Properties To Watch In The Wayne County Tax Auction

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This post was authored by Paul Beshouri.

Batten down your hatches, everyone: We're less than two weeks away from the start of 2012 Wayne County tax sale, or what might amount to be largest reshuffling of property ownership the country has ever seen. When round one kicks off on September 14th, something like 20,000 foreclosed properties will up for auction, with the minimum bid set at that property's total owed back taxes from the three years previous.

For your viewing pleasure, we've selected ten total properties (five residential today, five commercial tomorrow) that we believe to be important in some way. Some epitomize the deals tax auctions can offer, some carry a large stake in their neighborhood's future, and a couple are simply too magnificent to give up hope on, costs be damned. Check out (and big thanks to) Why Don't We Own This for complete details on everything up for auction.

We expect each of these to see hot bidding action in the first round, but keep in mind that whatever does not sell in September returns for the October auction.

? 203-209-212 Erskine
Min Bid: $20,287--$17,043--$15,300 respectively
Even though most of the interior burnt down in 2008, Patterson Terrace in Brush Park remains strikingly beautiful. If you're a glass-half-full type (and for this, we are), you might hope investors realize a refurbished Patterson would attract all sorts of attention, especially considering the new Whole Foods opening up just a couple blocks down John R.

? 240 Ashland
Min Bid: $14,500
Fox Creek is one of Detroit's quirkiest little secrets, and finding a foreclosure with any Fox frontage is an uncommon opportunity. If boating is your thing, just minutes downstream you'll find the canals surrounding Klenk Street/Harbor Island, followed by easy access to the Detroit River. We're not sure what to make of the strange-looking house, but we do know it's divvied up into apartments.

? 1980 Chicago
Min Bid: $47,200
Boston-Edison has several properties up for bid; but this is the best looking of the bunch. We don't know what's lurking behind all that beautiful brickwork, but we're guessing an ornate interior needing thousands in repairs.

? 2966 Evaline, Hamtramck
Min Bid: $15,900
A cute house in downtown Hamtramck sounds like a pretty good investment, especially since the bidding starts at $15,900. That's about half the average selling price for a home in the city. Being right across the street from Suzy's bar, we're thinking the actual value is quite a bit more.


? 5034 Commonwealth
Min Bid: $9,900
A non-Detroiter might imagine a tax sale in America's cheapest zip code to be less than competitive. Fortunately, foreclosure auction properties aren't too common in ever-popular Woodbridge. You can be sure this one is going to attract some attention.

· Why Don't We Own This? Updates! [The Great American Pixel]

Patterson Terrace

203 Erskine, Detroit, MI 48201