An effort to revitalize north Lake Charles by recirculating adjudicated property saw mild but notable success over the past month — six north Lake Charles residential properties once repossessed by the state are now in the process of ownership as a result.
On Nov. 1, the Lake Charles North Redevelopment Authority put up 55 properties for sale via CivicSource, a New Orleans-based company that auctions off adjudicated property online. The authority partnered with CivicSource in hopes that the company’s one-stop-shop model would simplify — and significantly quicken — the arduous process of putting old property back on the market.
Over 300 north Lake Charles properties have been sitting stagnant, usually unoccupied and contributing no property taxes, for years and many times decades, said authority President Kathleen Dorsey Bellow. But the
near-impossibility of buying adjudicated property and securing title insurance on one’s own had always dissuaded potential buyers.
She said CivicSource offered a unique solution to this problem. By putting down a refundable $850 deposit on a particular piece of property, a buyer gives CivicSource the OK to start securing title insurance and setting the auction date. On auction day, usually one Wednesday per month, anyone can bid on the property on CivicSource’s website, with all the legal work already complete.
Bellow told Lake Charles City Council members on Tuesday that the process went fairly well the first month — the authority will likely close the trial period soon and put more property on the market, she said. But she said the authority’s immediate next step is to work with the city on a plan for distributing the earnings. She said about $5,000 legally goes to CivicSource and the rest of the winning bid goes to the city to be distributed to various tax districts.
But the city has the ability to waive its right over those funds and cede them to the Lake Charles North Redevelopment Authority instead. Mayor Randy Roach said the city has been looking for a way to fund the activities of the authority and that CivicSource may be its chance to do just that.
He said that once the program is a little more established the City Council will decide “if that may be a source of revenue we can tap into.”
Council President Rodney Geyen applauded Bellow for her efforts and encouraged her about the potential of seeing those funds go to the authority.
“You’ve got my vote,” Geyen said.
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