Bidders Hunt For Land Bargains

By Caleb Fort

Posted: June 17, 2011 at 5:55 a.m.

Flip Putthoff
GOING, GOING, GONE John Thurston, Arkansas land commissioner, starts the auction of property on Thursday at Embassy Suites in Rogers.

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ROGERS — Bidders snatched up land across Benton and Washington counties Wednesday and Thursday in auctions by the commissioner of state lands.

The 372 parcels offered were tax delinquent for almost five years before they were put up for sale. The commissioner sells delinquent land to recoup property tax for counties.

Commissioner John Thurston said he expects the number of properties in future auctions to grow.

Because of the five-year gap between when a property becomes delinquent and when it goes up for auction, property abandoned in the 2008 recession won’t be for sale until 2013.

“I only can imagine what we’ll see then,” Thurston said.

Chris Marsten was one of the bidders at Thursday’s auction of Benton County property. The auction was held at Embassy Suites.

Armed with a bag of real estate printouts covered in handwritten notes, Marsten bid on houses in Benton County, but was consistently outbid.

Finally, he won a small house in Centerton for $15,500, plus $1,576 in back taxes.

“I’m a real bargain hunter — Dumpster diving, garage sales,” he said.

Marsten, a teacher at Bentonville High School, said he’d spent the past week researching property.

He wanted to buy a house — his wife recently decided to quit her job and be a stay-at-home mother — but he didn’t want to take out a loan, he said.

“It’s like being a slave to the bank,” he said.

Now Marsten has to wait 30 days, during which the original owner can reclaim the property by paying the delinquent taxes.

The commissioner’s office holds an auction in each county once a year.

Wednesday’s Springdale auction of Washington County property sold 33 of its 75 parcels.

Scotty Lawrence, a sales associate for the commissioner’s office, said Washington County auctions are usually smaller than in Benton County.

Benton County is usually the second largest auction of the year, after Pulaski County, he said.

One of the reasons is probably Bella Vista, and the Property Owners Association fees that come with the property, he said.

Indeed, many of parcels available Thursday were in Bella Vista, often with minimum bids and delinquent taxes less than $1,000.

Only a few of the Bella Vista lots sold.

Bernie and Diana Zerr bought one of the Bella Vista lots, winning with the minimum bid of $960, plus $261.38 in back taxes.

Bernie Zerr said the lot is in his neighborhood. He’s trying to buy land in Bella Vista for his children, who are in their 40s, he said.

Zerr said he thinks the real estate market is due for a rebound.

“I think in the long run, it will be a good investment,” he said. “I hope.”

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