San Bernardino County, California Hosts Successful Annual Tax Deed Sale with Grant Street Group

June 2, 2014 San Bernardino County

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grant Street Group announced today that the San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector successfully concluded its annual online sale of tax-defaulted properties on https://sbcounty.mytaxsale.com, a custom auction website hosted by Grant Street Group. This is the second year that San Bernardino County conducted its tax sale with Grant Street’s patented online auction platform.

“The online sale was a huge success and proved to be a great method for increasing the pool of bidders and the number of tax deeds sold. The goal of the tax sale is to get tax-defaulted property back into active tax paying status to help fund key public services including education, police and fire protection, social and public health services,” said Larry Walker, San Bernardino County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector. “This technology helps us to realize our mission of offering efficient, high-quality services in a cost effective manner by taking advantage of innovation and technology. With the funds collected through this sale, the County will be able to continue providing the highest level of service to County residents,” continued Mr. Walker.

Competition was fierce – 478 bidders submitted deposits (over 100 more than last year), allowing them a chance to bid on any of the 2,381 parcels available for sale. A total of 9,434 bids were submitted over the seven day auction.

When bidding concluded on May 23, over $13.6 million had been pledged toward tax-defaulted properties in San Bernardino County as a result of the online tax sale. Almost 50% of the tax deeds offered for sale triggered the “two-minute rule” — extending the auction end time when there was a new leading bidder in the last two minutes of a sale. This open auction process promotes greater competition among market participants and adds a significant layer of transparency to demonstrate that the County has achieved the optimum price.

For more information about Grant Street’s tax deed sale system and other tax collection products, please contact John McCarthy at (412) 391-5555 ext. 1321 or John.McCarthy@GrantStreet.com.