Comments on: Maricopa AZ real estate implodes http://polizeros.com/2008/04/07/maricopa-az-real-estate-implodes/ Musings on politics: anti-war, global warming, peak oil and otherwise Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:42:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: DJ http://polizeros.com/2008/04/07/maricopa-az-real-estate-implodes/comment-page-1/#comment-151451 DJ Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:55:58 +0000 http://polizeros.com/2008/04/07/maricopa-az-real-estate-implodes/#comment-151451 I'm not so sure: there's a booming industry in "trash" real estate, the kind no one else wants. Here's how it works in our area: You pick up land that is virtually useless at the county tax sale for cheap. You market it on the internet to unsuspecting buyers as "near ski areas and schools." The buyers buy it cheap-- but for five to ten times what you paid for it. They either hold it for years without knowing, or they come visit, talk to a reputable realtor, and discover that without water rights (which are never included) they can't even drill a well on the land. They stop paying the property taxes, and in a few years: viola! The land gets sold (again) at the county tax sale, probably to the same unscrupulous internet seller. Would the same kind of people that sell land in Beryl Townsite to unsuspecting buyers over and over, pick up Maricopa homes for pennies on the dollar and sell them for a decent profit on the internet to other unsuspecting buyers? You betcha. "Great retirement home! Close to Phoenix-- Amtrak-- great views of the nearby mountains!" Almost sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? I’m not so sure: there’s a booming industry in “trash” real estate, the kind no one else wants. Here’s how it works in our area: You pick up land that is virtually useless at the county tax sale for cheap. You market it on the internet to unsuspecting buyers as “near ski areas and schools.” The buyers buy it cheap– but for five to ten times what you paid for it. They either hold it for years without knowing, or they come visit, talk to a reputable realtor, and discover that without water rights (which are never included) they can’t even drill a well on the land. They stop paying the property taxes, and in a few years: viola! The land gets sold (again) at the county tax sale, probably to the same unscrupulous internet seller.

Would the same kind of people that sell land in Beryl Townsite to unsuspecting buyers over and over, pick up Maricopa homes for pennies on the dollar and sell them for a decent profit on the internet to other unsuspecting buyers? You betcha. “Great retirement home! Close to Phoenix– Amtrak– great views of the nearby mountains!” Almost sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?

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