Bargains Remain For Berrien County Property

berriencountyadministration-5
berriencountyadministration-5

The second property tax foreclosure auction of the year by the Berrien County Treasurer’s Office is being deemed a success. Treasurer Bret Witkowski tells our newsroom they sold about two-thirds of the properties available yesterday. He says a lot of properties were sold in the area between Colfax and Britain in Benton Harbor.

“Anything close to that at $50 to $100 a lot was going for $800 or $900,” says Witkowski. “The energy from the downtown area and Harbor Shores is starting to spill uptown, up the hill.”

The auction brought in just under $200,000. The 100 parcels remaining can be purchased for just $50 each starting on Thursday.

“We’ll move another 10 to 20 properties very quickly.”

Witkowski cautions that many of them are tiny, unbuildable lots in Hagar Township that were originally deeded to people who bought a subscription to a Chicago newspaper around 100 years ago. He says it would take five of those parcels combined together to be able to build anything, and many of them don’t even have a road going to them.