Land Banks are popping up in several different counties and complaints are sure to follow.
Numerous counties that once pimped the land bank have now figured out the cold hard truth. Land Banks - which are basically political patronage jobs - are money pits robbing counties of property taxes.
It is not wise to allow the government to pick and choose which connected person gets to purchase certain property. Cuyahoga County is now a communist county.
It is not wise to give the government more control over anything.
It is also not wise for HUD to continue pulling property from the free market and handing the property over to land banks- so the land banks can give property to out-of-state flippers.
The land bank property generates NO PROPERTY TAXES , while cash strapped and desperate counties begin selling out more long time homeowners to property tax lien predators to make up for the extensive loss of property taxes.
Folks that owe petty amounts of delinquent property taxes are going to get hit hard when they are sold out to predatory tax collectors to make up for the loss of tax revenue. The sell out to tax lien predators will add fuel to the foreclosure crisis - as history has already proven.
Once the tax lien predators obtain the deed to hundreds of properties via tax lien foreclosures, the predators themselves DO NOT PAY PROPERTY TAXES on property they obtained from others for not paying property taxes.
Numerous properties that were taken from decades long property owners for petty amounts of delinquent property taxes were 'donated' to the county land bank by the predatory tax lien thieves- again generating NO PROPERTY TAXES.
Land Banks are money pits. On top of the six figure salaries, there are also grass cutting fees, board-up fees, contractor fees, lost property taxes, winterization, safeguarding, and many other cost associated with each property for as long as the county land bank decides to hoard the property.
Millions and Millions of dollars are wasted in several counties and collectively the tab is over ONE BILLION DOLLARS. Obama will need to go back to the money printing machine if this trend continues.
Many of the land banks do not operate ethically and/or with common sense.
The land bank in Cuyahoga County is in full scam mode with a hypocrite con artist as it's president. The county land bank president, Gus Frangos, hides property under the guise of numerous LLC's, fails to pay property taxes, fails to pay his mortgage, lost property via delinquent property tax foreclosure, and owns several dump properties that look like they are in a war zone. The con artist's six figure salary is paid by the collection of delinquent property taxes. And believe it or not, this same damn hypocrite wrote and passed legislation to target others for delinquent property taxes and worked to speed up the foreclosure process.
Land Bank President Frangos' shell LLC property - foreclosed upon for delinquent property taxes - was court ordered into the Cuyahoga County Land Bank. Frangos failed to handle business in Round One with this property, so now he again gets control of his own shell LLC property in Round Two !!!
Frangos signed for the over-inflated mortgage as "Gus Frangos, Member of 1158 East 61st LLC":
Although Frangos is in charge of saving us from the foreclosure crisis and blight, he is a major contributor to the exact same issues in which he is receiving a six figure salary in an alleged attempt to save us.
WHO WILL SAVE US FROM GUS FRANGOS?? http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-foreclosure-crisis-who-will-save-us-gus-frangos-president-cuyahoga-county-la [2]
The shady Cuyahoga County Land Bank is selectively giving numerous properties to connected out-of-state flippers who have zero interest in our community. The county land bank is handing property located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio to LLC investors / flippers located in Florida, California and Maryland - courtesy of county taxpayers.
The out-of-state flippers immediately obtain mortgages for more than twice the value of the property and will automatically walk away with large profits if they do nothing further with the property.
The majority of out-of-state flippers use a county land bank 'middle man' - JASON BROOKS- for their numerous land bank properties. Jason Brooks and his connected crew meet in coffee shops discussing their next move. Brooks and his connected out-of-state investors have received the majority of property from the county land bank.
The land bank breaks it's own rules by selling property to those that are property tax delinquent. The land bank and community development groups sold several properties to a connected LLC buyer who owed the county nearly $10,000 in delinquent property taxes. Two hours after the deed transferred for one property, the LLC sold the property for a profit of over $50,000 and failed to pay his delinquent property taxes. Real smart.
Lots of complaints regarding land banks in Cuyahoga County and several other counties. All of the complaints are regarding similar issues:
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The Kent County Commission voted 18-1 on Thursday, March 28, to adopt the new policy in response to complaints from real estate developers last year that the county was cherry-picking properties before the general public had a chance to acquire them at the county’s annual tax auction.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/03/kent_countys_land_bank_wont_ge.html [5]
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http://www.kentcountytaxpayers.org/the-kent-county-land-bank-is-crony-government-gone-wild/ [7]
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http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/01/flint_genesee_county_have_spen.html [11]
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Ficano wants to end Wayne County Land Bank [12]
County Executive Robert Ficano wants to eliminate the Wayne County Land Bank, which he touted when it was started in 2007 as a tool to rehabilitate vacant and dilapidated properties.
Instead, it generated mostly controversy, including a now-defunct horse racing track in Huron Township.
Ficano made the proposal -- one of many cost-cutting suggestions -- in his budget released earlier this month. The County Commission is reviewing the plan and would have to sign off.
"With plummeting property values over the past few years, the county's property tax [13]collections have dropped more than $100 million, striking a hard blow to the county's general fund," Ficano spokeswoman June West said. "This is a bare-bones budget that is focused on essential and mandated services."
The county has poured more than $14.2 million into the Land Bank since 2008, and it received an additional $5 million in federal funds. The idea was to provide incentives to owners to rehabilitate their properties, to sell abandoned property cheaply and to clean up or tear down blighted buildings.
Last year, the county's general fund contributed $2.8 million to the Land Bank. But facing a $189-million cumulative deficit, the county can't afford it anymore, said County Commissioner Laura Cox, R-Livonia.
"When it was originally proposed, it was supposed to get a little bit of subsidy, but it was supposed to become self-sustaining, and they never got there," she said. "It can't continue."
The Free Press reported last year that former chief development officer Turkia Awada Mullin awarded more than $750,000 in no-bid contracts from the Land Bank to politically connected people and firms during her tenure as executive director.
Mullin used the Land Bank to spearhead the Pinnacle Race Course development, under which the county sold 320 acres of land in Huron Township for $1. The plan was supposed to generate 2,300 jobs, but an audit last year said shoddy record-keeping by the Land Bank made it impossible to tally the true number of jobs. The track closed in 2010.
County Treasurer Raymond Wojtowicz chairs the board that runs the Land Bank corporation. He was critical of Mullin's tenure but said her successor, Janno Hanna, had done a good job.
"We do need to stress that the problems we perceive are problems of the past," said David Szymanski, Wojtowicz's deputy. "But with the problems we have, we need to look at mandated services."
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The Genesee County Land bank has reached a level of politicalization, ineptitude and croneyism that has rendered it a prime candidate for elimination.
I have spoken to countless individuals and potential business people who were denied the opportunity to purchase land because the Land Bank stated future development. The Land Bank was not created to be a developer and the auction system by the state allows investors into the system which is what the Land Bank puports they sre stiving to prevent.
Dan Kildee, when he was in charge,criticized the nonprofits who were attempting (unsuccessfully) to accumulate large tracts of land for future development when they could not afford this luxury. The Genesee County Land bank is doing the very same thing. They cannot afford the maintenance of this land.
They are accumulating huge tracts of land and holding for future purposes. Pastor Flynn of Foss Avenue, in one of his recent speeches, denounced the policies of developing ony downtown and accused officials of once again making the north end gardens and farmland. According to Highsmith, the north end was the last area in Flint to be fully developed.
There are secretive land transactions taking place in the Metawanenee area . Individuals attempting to purchase home in this area are being denied and are being told by the Land Bank that all of the land is being held for Salem Housing. salem has houses that have been for sale for at least five years that remain unsold. But Salem has strong political allies, obviously within the land bank too. Even the City of Flint gave them more money for purchase, rehab and resale HUD programs after HUD criticized salem's failures in similar programs and warned the city about this participant.
Remember the failed efforts of Salem in the Smith Village area? The media covered the stories of angry homeowners that dealt with Salem and Salem flagrantly broke HUD rules regarding policies and contractors.
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untanglingwebs schreef: We need those future tax revenues now!!! |
http://www.flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=66067 [14]
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Dave [17]Gillie
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*** My blogs expressing my freedom of speech rights - especially on matters of public concern - are my opinion and not the opinion of my friends, family or employer***
Links:
[1] http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/10/real_estate_speculators_sue_ke.html
[2] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-foreclosure-crisis-who-will-save-us-gus-frangos-president-cuyahoga-county-la
[3] http://hunter.senatedems.com/news/article/senator-hunter-introduces-legislation-to-reform-wayne-county-land-bank#
[4] http://hunter.senatedems.com/news/article/senator-hunter-introduces-legislation-to-reform-wayne-county-land-bank
[5] http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/03/kent_countys_land_bank_wont_ge.html
[6] http://www.kentcountytaxpayers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/KCTA-kent-county-land-bank.mp3
[7] http://www.kentcountytaxpayers.org/the-kent-county-land-bank-is-crony-government-gone-wild/
[8] http://connect.mlive.com/user/karter_landon/index.html
[9] http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2012/10/genesee_county_land_bank_strug.html
[10] http://connect.mlive.com/user/3sense/index.html
[11] http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/01/flint_genesee_county_have_spen.html
[12] http://www.freep.com/article/20120713/NEWS02/207130360/Ficano-wants-to-end-Wayne-County-Land-Bank
[13] http://www.flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=66067#
[14] http://www.flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=66067
[15] http://www.mackinac.org/depts/edit/htt%3Cspan%20id='tinymce_EndX'%3E%3C/span%3Ep:/www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(2txk03qoqmermh55l2odlmnu))/mileg.aspx?page=getObject&objectName=mcl-258-2003-1
[16] http://www.mackinac.org/17333?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150952207921619_22714372_10150960416196619#f19dead7b0885ba
[17] http://www.facebook.com/dave.gillie.5
[18] http://www.freep.com/article/20120713/NEWS02/207130360/Ficano-wants-to-end-Wayne-County-Land-Bank#
[19] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-creators-dabble-ten-million-dollar-property-jim-rokakis-gus-frango#
[20] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-foreclosure-crisis-who-will-save-us-gus-frangos-president-cuyahoga-county-la#
[21] http://www.grbj.com/articles/76494-county-stops-property-sales-to-land-bank
[22] http://www.grbj.com/articles/76391-new-option-surfaces-from-land-bank-subcommittee
[23] http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2012/05/kent_county_land_bank_leader_s.html
[24] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-president-gus-frangos-worlds-biggest-idiot-land-bank-scam-fraud-wa#
[25] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-president-gus-frangos-worlds-biggest-idiot-land-bank-scam-fraud-wa
[26] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-creators-dabble-ten-million-dollar-property-jim-rokakis-gus-frango
[27] http://realneo.us/content/cuyahoga-county-land-bank-continues-give-county-taxpayer-property-flippers
[28] http://realneo.us/content/hypocrite-con-artist-gus-frangos-scam-cuyahoga-county-land-bank-county-officials-overlook-de
[29] http://realneo.us/content/gus-frangos-president-cuyahoga-county-land-bank-and-his-shell-llc-properties-new-photos