February 11, 2006|By KENNETH HARNEY
Whether you're a first-time homebuyer, an investor, vacation property buyer, historic preservation buff - or even looking for a boat to convert into a live-aboard residence - you are not shopping the market to the max unless you check out the federal government's best real estate resources: The combined property disposition program inventories of 10 agencies, all rolled into one online access point.
Want to buy a cabin in the woods near Lake Huron? Center-city rowhouses for rehab from Baltimore to Los Angeles? Raw land in Arizona, a lighthouse in the Atlantic, a condo in Puerto Rico, a development site in the U.S. Virgin Islands?
The offerings change daily, the realty sales hype is refreshingly restrained, and the caveats plentiful when you browse through the properties available from the Internal Revenue Service, the Customs Service, the departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Each of these agencies ends up with unwanted real estate through its own specialized activities.
HUD, VA, SBA and the Agriculture Department foreclose on some of the properties they insure or finance. Customs, the IRS, and the Marshals Service seize properties for nonpayment of taxes or criminal violations and then sell them on the open market.
Now there's an easy way to check out the bulging portfolios of these agencies 24/7.
Go to HUD's real estate site - www.hud.gov/homes/homesforsale.cfm - and then link into any of the government agencies' separate offerings.
The links also connect you to congressionally chartered Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's property disposition sites. HUD's own portfolio tends to be the largest of the federal government, and it represents the most productive resource for anyone shopping for moderate-cost houses to live in or renovate as an investment.
The other agencies' sites are lesser known, less visited and contain fewer properties for sale or bid. But they offer far more diverse and intriguing possibilities.
For example, the IRS' site offers houses for sale in some delightful getaway locations. How about a quaint six-bedroom, four-unit multifamily New England frame house in scenic Brattleboro, Vt.? In a visit to the Web site in early February, the property was heading for auction March 2 with a minimum bid of $41,589.
Like all the government property disposition Web sites, there's virtually none of the typical real estate agent hype. No "fabulous view," no "huge backyards" no "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunities. Along with a photo of the Brattleboro property, the IRS modestly describes it as being "located on a nice residential street near downtown." IRS marketers did note, more enthusiastically, that Brattleboro "is one of the towns listed in Norm Crampton's Making Your Move to One of America's Best Small Towns." Wow!
Want to buy a historic lighthouse? For that you'll need to visit the General Services Administration's Web site.
But bear in mind in advance, you'll need to be able to demonstrate that you're part of a nonprofit group dedicated to historic preservation and that you've got the financial wherewithal to maintain the lighthouse for the foreseeable future.
Looking for real estate opportunities in the Caribbean? How about a half-acre, $35,000 piece of land in "good" condition in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands? It's for sale from the Small Business Administration, which also offers a former "restaurant/store/gas station turnaround opportunity near Fairbanks, Alaska, on two acres for $250,000."
The SBA's site hypes the property not at all. In fact, it admits that it's only in "fair" condition and comes with a "contaminated tank/cleanup needed."
Want to bid on a 36-foot boat in Texas that could be turned into a live-aboard residence? Then you need to go to the General Services Administration's link via the hud.gov site. No minimum bid was stated as of early February, but you could buy a double-cabin "personnel boat" built in 1995. You'll have to spend some money making it seaworthy - the GSA anti-hype promotion text revealed that repairs are required, parts are missing and "additional deficiencies are unknown." Plus, it's up on blocks and you'll have to spend money moving it and transforming it into a live-aboard yacht.
But hey, you just might get it for a steal.
KenHarney@earthlink.net
