On March 6, 2015, New Orleans launched a new online auction system for tax-adjudicated properties. The Times-Picayune has been closely monitoring the system since it launched.
Robert McClendon has been covering the new online auction system for 1,700 tax-adjudicated properties online, noting trends among the enthusiasm for the auction.
McClendon's coverage includes a dispatch 48 hours after the system launched. In that first period, the system received $650 "pre-bids" for 300 properties. "Interest was shown in just about every neighborhood where properties were available, but the most intense activity centered around the city's historic core," according to McClendon. The article goes on to detail some of the reasons why inner neighborhoods inspired more interest (hint: supply and demand). This article includes a lot of detail about how the system works.
Most recently, McClendon discusses the gentrification triggering potential of the auction. McClendon cites a letter to the Times-Picayune by Alexandra Miller, deputy director of the Crescent City Community Land Trust, which describes the auction as a step in the right direction for neighborhoods that have long-suffered the impact of vacant properties, but also suggests that some of the properties be saved for affordable housing.
Finally, McClendon has also penned a revised "digestible guide" to the system that updates an earlier version of the guide with responses to frequently asked questions about the auction.
The city will eventually release another 1,300 properties for auction and the current pre-bidding phase of the process will expire in 90 days, so stay tuned.
FULL STORY: Properties in Central City, Treme, 7th Ward and St. Roch draw most interest in New Orleans' online auction
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