It is articles like this that shows you that you are not the owner of your land and your just a tenent of the property if you don't pay the tax to live on it.
So then who owns the land?
Treasurer John Petalas said the Internet-driven sale collected that from 1,360 parcels from among a total of 9,000 properties whose owners failed to pay overdue taxes and special assessments. It also represents a bidding frenzy on a smaller amount of commercial sites. He said one property where the tax debt was $14,762 was sold at auction for more than $280,000, and a second property with an $81,000 tax debt sold for $541,000.
Petalas said the $21.6 million figure includes $4.7 million in taxes and late penalties county, municipal and township government officials can keep
(that must be nice, keep and do what with it).
The remaining $16.8 million is the surplus value that will be paid either to the delinquent owners who lost their properties or back to the buyer with a small profit if the owner redeems the property by paying 10 percent of the successful bid.
Petalas credited the success of the online auction conducted by SRI, Indianapolis-based auctioneer, which received bids around the clock from people across the country.
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...2666704f5.html