Kamloops Real Estate Blog

Many people do not understand how a City tax sale works. Here is an article featured in the Kamloops This Week on September 19th, 2011 and was written by Jeremy Deutsch.

If you’re looking to buy a cheap home, Kamloops City Hall might be the best place to get a bargain.

Every year, several homes for which the owner has not paid their property taxes for three consecutive years get put up for auction by the city.

It’s a chance to buy a home for a fraction of the value, but there’s a catch. The homeowner has a year to pay off the outstanding debt to get their house back. And, in the last 20 years, not one sale has stood up for the entire year.

“I always get people in here going ,‘Oh, can I get a great deal on a house?’ And the answer is no,” said Tanya Garost, the city’s revenue and taxation manager. She said the auction is really a tool to get people to pay their taxes.

Garost explained that since many of the homes on the auction list still have a mortgage, the lending company will always come to the rescue and pay the taxes so it doesn’t lose interest in the property.

There are about 60 properties on the list for this year’s auction, but Garost predicts that number will drop to about 10 before the bidding even begins.

The city is owed about $400,000 in unpaid property taxes.

Though the odds of snagging a cheap house are remote, it can still be a good investment. Typically, the bidding for each property starts at the amount owed in taxes, plus some service charges. The person with the winning bid then cuts a cheque to the city for  the amount.

When the delinquent homeowner eventually comes to pay the tax bill, the investor gets their money back, plus the interest for the time it was held.

The interest rate this year is six per cent, while the bank rate is just one per cent. It’s the homeowner who pays the interest,  not the city.

The auction will be held in city council chambers at 10 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 26.

Garost noted the auction usually attracts  about 15 to 20 people each year.

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This article was written by Cam Fortems of the Kamloops Daily News on September 12, 2011.

Sewer expansion on TIB lands funded under a federal government program designed to create jobs after the last recession will provide even more economic opportunity in the future, leaders said Monday.

Tk’emlups Indian Band held a official opening at its arbor Monday morning to celebrate completion of its $9.7-million sewer mainline trunk expansion.

The system feeds into the City of Kamoops sewage treatment plant.

While the Sun Rivers development and Sk’lep school have always been connected to the City plant, most of the band lands remained on septic systems.

TIB councillor Fred Seymour, who headed the project for the band, said that fact limited commercial development potential, as well as housing for band members. The 114 homes at the band’s main George Campbell subdivision are on one-acre lots to allow septic fields. But Seymour said the trunk line extension will allow more dense land use, including multi-family projects for band members.

Seymour said the band had long wanted to expand its sewer system and was ready to approach Ottawa in the wake of the last recession, when government was looking for “shovel-ready” projects to help create jobs and boost the economy.

Chief Shane Gottfriedson said now that the more than seven kilometres of trunk line is in place, the band and individual certificate of possession owners will be looking at development and hooking up in the next phase. That includes Mount Paul Industrial Park, which is currently on septic systems.

“We’d like to get the business case and financial planning together.”

In addition to hooking up existing development, Gottfriedson said the sewer expansion allows servicing of 20 hectares of developable land along the South Thompson River beside the Chief Louis complex.

“We’re looking at a riverfront atmosphere with restaurants and fine dining,” Gottfriedson said. “We want to build upon what we started at the Chief Louis Centre.”

The band originally looked at building its own sewage treatment centre, but has an agreement with the City of Kamloops dating back more than a decade. One of the possible outfalls was on the North Thompson River.

Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar said the City has always factored in development on band lands into its wastewater treatment planning.

“Anytime you can have one less outfall is a good thing for all the residents of the region.”

Both the engineering and construction were done by Kamloops-based companies. One of the band’s stipulations was 30 per cent of the construction workforce was First Nations.

The band also trained and will employ two workers to maintain the series of lines and lift stations.

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