Hungry bidders left little on the table at Luzerne County’s main annual auction for delinquent taxes last week, a post-auction report shows.

The auction raised $1.08 million, with 86 lots sold and 25 with no bids, according to the report from tax collection firm Elite Revenue Solutions LLC.

The popularity of district-level tax auctions is reflected in the competition: 64% of the properties purchased attracted multiple bidders, which pushed the purchase prices above the minimum bid. The rest were sold at the starting bid.

At Thursday’s auction, officially called a foreclosure sale, properties are being sold without liens and tax arrears because they were not purchased at a first-stage foreclosure sale. Therefore, starting bids are set lower to recoup only the cost of the tax claims incurred in auctioning the properties.

The two highest prices paid in this sale were for two-block residential properties in Wilkes-Barre.

According to records, the highest bidder, Esthanli Duval Ferrera of Paterson, New Jersey, paid $135,000 for a duplex at 60-62 Mill Street in the city.

Bidding on this property started at $2,683, but since the purchase price significantly exceeded that amount, the tax authorities will still collect the $24,217 in outstanding property taxes that were due on the property.

The next highest purchase price was $127,000 for a double-block at 29-31 E. Main St. in the city, bought by bidder Hansen Cabrera Coronado of Wilkes-Barre, records show. Bidding had started at $6,922.

Commercial property Freeland

Bidder Nabil Abualburak of Kingston Township paid the third-highest amount at the auction – $125,000 – for a large vacant commercial building on the borough’s busy Route 940.

Most recently, PGA Incorporated operated a plastics recycling operation there. But the building was best known as the site of Garland Commercial Industries, which manufactured commercial ovens, grills and kitchen equipment for restaurants, hotels and public facilities. Garland’s corporate owner announced the closure of the company in 2010, citing consolidation plans and the poor economy.

Abualburak and another unidentified man who was with him at the auction said they were investors under the umbrella of 185 South Street LLC.

The men said the property would be cleared and rented or sold; storage units were mentioned as a possible use.

After Abualburak completed the paperwork following the successful bid, another tax auction buyer/real estate investor, Raymond Slack, approached Abualburak to alert him to construction issues with the Freeland property.

Slack said he was interested in the property but backed out after speaking with a county official about the property’s poor condition and other concerns, including a large amount of hazardous materials that would need to be removed.

Restaurant/bar in Wilkes Barre

Slack, of White Haven, paid the fourth-highest amount at the auction – $91,000 – to purchase a restaurant/bar at 650 Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, formerly known as Outsiders Bar and now called Uncle Jesse’s.

A Plains Township woman made the winning bid of $164,000 for the property at last year’s auction, but the purchase fell through due to a payment issue, so the property was re-offered at this year’s auction with a starting bid of $7,991.

While Outsiders Bar was in the news for criminal activity, Slack said he was encouraged by online reviews of the food at Uncle Jesse’s.

“I think the image has somehow changed in the last year,” he said.

Slack said he will ensure the building is properly maintained and will try to negotiate a lease with the current management of the restaurant/bar.

“It’s an existing, thriving business and I don’t plan on changing much about it,” said Slack, who buys 10 to 15 distressed properties each year from tax foreclosures in several counties through his company, RCS Capital Group LLC.

Single-family homes

In another major deal, bidder Kristy Latimer of Forty Fort purchased a home in Plymouth Township for $58,000. Bidding on the property at 35 Maude Street started at $2,774.

Bidder Karina Broes of Randolph, New Jersey, placed the winning bid of $40,000 on a home at 1367 Old Tioga Turnpike in Huntington Township. Bidding started at $1,264.

Richart Ferrira, a bidder from Macungie, purchased a home at 53 Main Street in Salem Township for $24,000, with bidding starting at $1,424, tax records show.

Land banks

In addition to the properties acquired through a tender, two land banks acquired a total of 18 properties through their Trump Bid Authority, which were subsequently withdrawn from sale.

Land banks, authorized by a 2012 state law, take over blighted lands and try to return them to productive hands. In Trump bids, land banks have the authority to acquire the open-market lands by paying the starting bid.

The properties were acquired from the Lower South Valley Land Bank and the North East Pennsylvania Land Bank Authority.

Elite tax attorney Sam Falcone presided over Thursday’s auction and warned bidders in advance not to enter their purchases or make any improvements to them until the deed is recorded.

Falcone said there is a time limit within which sales can be contested, which in rare cases could result in a judge declaring a sale void. In that case, the bidder would be refunded the purchase price, but there would be no refund for work bidders completed before ownership of properties was transferred, he said.

Deeds are usually issued within 60 days of the sale.

For information about county tax auctions, visit the Elite Revenue website at luzernecountytaxclaim.com.