Storm-damaged LI houses open for inspection before auction
Forty-two Long Island properties damaged in superstorm Sandy and other storms are open for inspection this week by potential bidders looking to pick up a bargain at a May 11 auction of 51 properties at the Hyatt Regency Long Island in Hauppauge.
The state’s New York Rising Acquisition Program bought the properties from homeowners for resale to those willing to repair and elevate them.
Open houses for 44 Staten Island properties, plus one each in Brooklyn, Queens and Port Jervis will take place over four days next week. A total of 64 city and upstate properties are scheduled for a May 10 auction on Staten Island.
Paramount Realty USA will run the auctions, as it did last November and May when 300 properties were sold for $46 million.
Tuesday’s open houses were in East Rockaway, Long Beach, Island Park, Baldwin, Freeport and Bellmore, with homes in Seaford, Massapequa, Amityville, Babylon and Lindenhurst set for Wednesday, and in Lindenhurst and West Islip on Thursday. Available properties, in 13 towns and villages, range from empty lots to teardowns and houses in various states of repair — 33 on the waterfront and or with water views, with pre-storm values as high as $1,100,000. Some properties on the auction list — either lots or in hazardous condition — were unavailable for inspection.
Buyers have up to three years, or longer if variances are needed, to produce a new or repaired home that is elevated in compliance with local codes. The state can take title to properties that don’t meet the deadlines.
Previous auctions attracted hundreds of bidders, some of them would-be homeowners but many of them contractors, realtors, and investors interested in flipping houses. Some immediately put their unrepaired acquisition on the market, which is allowed under the auction terms, because the three-year repair window remains in place no matter who owns the property.
Barbara Brancaccio, spokeswoman for the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery, which is sponsoring the auction with the NY Rising Housing Recovery Program, said that interest remained high in the latest round of auctions. She said she visited properties in Long Beach and Island Park, and “I saw a lot of local developers,” including a number who had purchased property in previous auctions.
Those interested in bidding can go to www.prusa.com for a brochure with general information and to purchase due diligence information, including appraisals, surveys, photographs, title reports and other documentation.
Carol Polsky writes news and features on wide-ranging topics, from superstorm Sandy, 9/11 and presidential elections to health care and the economy.
