No Takers For Six-Apartment Property Auction

February 11, 2013

A six-apartment property that had been taken over by the Provost Marshal was put up for auction last week, with the public auction scheduled to take place at 3:00pm.

By 3:15pm, no potential buyer or buyers had shown up at the Long Ridge Pass Devonshire property, and Auctioneer, Mr Leonard Gibbons, took down his auction signs and departed.

auction house feb 13 2

The property remains seized and unsold. The mortgagee said that he was a skilled worker who had a trade in the construction industry; and that the house had been built in cooperation with his father. He also said that he had not had any regular work for the past two years and had a young son. Only two of the six apartments were currently occupied by tenants.

auction house feb 13 3

The same had happened around two weeks ago on 25th January. Then, a two bedroom two bathroom condo on Convict Bay Lane in St George’s had been put up for public auction under a Supreme Court Writ of Execution. But no buyers came to that auction and there were no bids. That property remains seized and unsold.

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Comments (36)

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  1. Annie says:

    It appears that it makes more sense to let the morgagee hold onto the property and work with them to make payments than to seize it and have it unsold at auction. What happens now? The place sits there and becomes derelict and is of no value to anyone…it makes no sense…

  2. ohbill says:

    I’ll bid $1000

  3. Truth is killin' me... says:

    100% agree with you Annie. Now if the banks thought like you maybe both parties would come to an ammicable solution and both get what they want. The banks are too quick to snatch someone’s property and this is exactly what happens. It lays dormant. Remember a half a loaf is better than no loaf at all!

  4. CHEEE KUMS BIE says:

    IF I WAS WEALTHY I WOULD PURCHASE THIS PLACE AND SELL IT BACK TO THE OWNER IN HOWEVER MUCH TIME IT WOULD TAKE FOR HIM TO PAY IT OFF, AND WHENEVER HE CAN PAY IT OFF, EVEN IF IT WAS PASSED DOWN THROUGH GENERATIONS I WOULD MAKE AN AGREEMENT THAT ONCE IT IS PAYED OFF THAT WHOEVER IS IN HIS FAMILY THAT IS IN CHARGE WOULD HAVE THE PLACE…….

    • Um Um Like says:

      And the reason you’re not wealthy is because you think like that.

      It sucks for the mortgagee, however banks are businesses, and as crooked as they may be, they still need to generate a profit.

      • jake best says:

        u sound just as evil as the crooked banks,,
        um um like

      • dh#1 says:

        @ Um Um Like – Thats it…you said it…crooked as hell. We have a mortgagee in trouble, but because of Corporate greed for profit, the mortgagee loses his house! F…@k those banks; they better not make a mistake and put any money in account by mistake; they won’t get a red cent back! How you like that for people greed!

    • DarkSideOfTheMoon says:

      If you were wealthy why wouldn’t you just give it back to the previous owner?

  5. Just us says:

    I am sure if the owner reduced the rental fee, it would have created some sort of revenue. Only 2 out of six apartment were occupied? Like someone mentioned, half a loaf is better then none…

  6. Triangle Drifter says:

    The legacy of the PLP keeps on giving. The last thing banks wan to do is call the mortgage. They don’t want the expense & responsebility of maintaining & managing the property.

    Calling the mortgage & auctioning off a property is the last option played.

  7. Highlyfavoured says:

    Were these auctions properly advertsied? I am sure that there are some out there who can rightly afford these now affordable properties.

    Unfortunate for the previous owners, but I am certain that these properties were not just taken out of their hands. Of course the banks attempted to work with the previous owners to no avail. This is a long process of trying to encourage the owner to pay, but sometimes, through financial constraints, some struggle to meet the bare minimun and hence drastic measures are taken.

    I hope they re-auction so that someone has a good opportunity to purchase at a reasonable cost.

    • ABM says:

      You kn0w what, I have never heard of any of these places being auctioned off either. Was this a secret? You must advertise if you want to get it sold. Perhaps this was a way for someone private to benefit if the units never sold. Think exempt company jobs where a foriegn national would rather be kepf than a Bermudian. IJS

      • jon says:

        look at the state of the property…awful, could this be the result of people building houses and depending on the tenants to pay the mortgage. So now when there are no tenants, they cant pay the bank. I know the bank doesn’t just take a persons house and auction it after 1 missed payment, so there must have been several months of missed payments, but in the end the bank must make money. you know how many mortgages a bank holds, they cant just let people miss payments because of their struggles.

      • BTW says:

        They were both well advertised…but since there was no picture, it did not get your interest.

  8. campervan says:

    Bermuda is swamped with condos for rent, and the population is shrinking. Consequently buying condos in the current climate to rent out would be a poor business decision.

  9. Oh My says:

    The places were advertised. Maybe people do not read the papers as often. Maybe…a TV advert should have generated….NOT!!! Hopefully the banks and the mortgagee can come to some kind of understanding whereby he can keep th house. It is sad after all the labour one puts into their property and economy comes and crushes their dream. Good luck mortgagee. I feel for you.

  10. Ben Dover says:

    Don’t worry if you missed the auction. Plenty more “opportunities” will be coming. I wonder what they were asking for a dilapidated apartment complex with a 33% occupancy rate?

  11. Amazed says:

    I agree that they were advertised and I went and had a look prior to the auction. The real problem is that these properties are often put up with reserved asking prices that are near to the market price, therefore they are not the deals that people might be looking for.

    • Ben Dover says:

      You are right, anything at or near market price is hardly a deal. The market price will be 10% less in a year’s time.

    • pebblebeach says:

      You are 100% correct here…they seek market prices at these auctions…what a sham misrepresented by Banks and Real Estate Agents as trying to recover costs…I recall a Bank with a non performing mortgage at $750k on a house with a so call market value of $1.2M…guess what the reserve price was…

  12. OMG says:

    HELLO !! People cannot afford the properties they have much less look to purchase other ones at the moment (and look at the state of that place). Have you seen the vacant homes around the island? Those that can are probably nervous given the recent a announcements regarding our country’s debt levels and I do not blame them ! The drip has indeed turned into a river as everyday there is new bad news here … and it will get worse.

  13. Tricks are for kids says:

    GOOD!!!!!! I hope no one shows up for any property auctions that they have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Trying to make a profit off of someone elses blood, sweat and tears…..

    Curious as to what the plans are for all these forclosed properties anyway….If the real estate market is down who’s going to be doing the buying?

    • Um Um Like says:

      “If the real estate market is down who’s going to be doing the buying?”

      Really? Think about it. Would you rather buy something when it’s cheap or when it’s expensive?

  14. In the Throne speech there was mention of the government lookinng into helping people deal with their mortgage issues,here is my suggestion.why not look at the long term situation in reality and bring realistic solutions.

    most would agree that houses in Bermuda and condos start at the $400,000.00 mark and higher,so this means that those mortgage paymments are going to be over $3,200. a month and if you have a home in the area of $600,000.00,your monthly payments are going to be around $4,500.00 a month,so the higher the mortgage,the higher the payments.

    So with that said,I would think the government in this present state and conditions that hundreds of home owners find themselves in,that there has to be a way to undertake helping people before it got to this stage,I made a recommendation to the former Premier Mrs Paula Cox and a few weeks following,there was an announcement made that the then government would implement such an idea but they still came up short as they did it only for the senior citizens.

    My suggestion was that home owners who find themselves in difficulty paying their mortgage can apply for financial assistance,which would be monitored closely and that they would be granted assistance based on certain criteria.this way the people dont loose their homes and have to go look for accomadations and still apply for financial assitance,which the tax payer will have to pay for regardless.

    Most home owners,if not all in this country are tax paying citizens in one way or the other,the sad thing is we pay taxes through our employers and other goods and services for many years and dont ask for help from government,then when times like this comes we loose everything and then are force to go to government financial assistance,only to recieve assitance to pay someone elses mortgage when we should have had the help needed to secure our own.

    I t is a slave mentality and system that makes you co-dependant and not many come from out of it ,once in it.I am only one voice but there are many that can suggest and hopefully pool our thoughts and ideas together that we can help a future generation.

    • Um Um Like says:

      If the government were to help everyone in need, where would they get the money from? Taxes? So you mean to tell me that everyone that lives within their means and takes the time to think before they invest should be held accountable for those that overspend and carelessly invest? If you’re such a big fan of socialism perhaps you should relocate to Sweden.

  15. For the record according to governments policies,a home owner can not apply for financial assistance,they only made the changes for seniors just last year 2012,as long as you are a home owner you do not qualify for financial assistance no matter how much debt you are in,but the government still wants you to pay your land tax,that is a big joke.

  16. Really says:

    The consequence to bad behaviour

  17. jt says:

    There are a very large number of properties in mortgage arrears that are not being seized and the banks are working with customers. The number would stun most people.

    • Tricks are for kids says:

      Most people would also be stunned at the amount of customers that they are not working with as well….A certain bank……a certain contractor and a certain lawyer….hmmmmmm….I see their game plan coming to an end very soon….stay tuned…..

    • uh oh!!! says:

      Apparently there are a lot of properties & especially condos that are in arrears . . . the banks do not want the properties & especially in bad economic times. So it is best if the banks can work with the borrowers, but not always possible. : (

  18. R U Serious says:

    Does anyone know the starting bid (auction) price???

  19. Bobmarlin says:

    Do not buy real estate now.Make the banks lower their interest payments,as they do not want to be landlords!

  20. M.P.Mountbatten JP says:

    At auction..Remember , you can only bid with the money that you have in your pocket , there will be no dash for cash …