Here’s your chance to become a land baron – if you “play your paddle” right.
About 17 acres of residential land, comprising 64 “tax lots” near Aqueduct Racetrack is going on the auction block at the track, on Wednesday, June 10 and anyone can bid on the properties.
The sale is billed as a “prime opportunity to build your dream home or an entire subdivision,” with land for “75+ two-family homes.”
But before you grab your piggy bank and head off to Aqueduct, you need to do some homework, because participating in auctions can be something of a gamble, according to experts.
While auctions can yield incredible bargains, sometimes “bidding fever” sets in and “It can get pretty exciting,” said Richard Maltz, of auctioneer David R. Maltz & Co.
There is no charge to attend – follow the signs from the main entrance to Aqueduct, at 110-00 Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park, ¬¬– starting at 11 a.m.
However, to get a numbered paddle, which you raise to signify your bid, you must plunk down a $7,500 deposit, by certified or bank check.
“We tried to arrange this auction in a fair manner, so the little guy has a shot,” he said.
The New York Racing Association (NYRA) is the owner. This sale of “ancillary” parcels was approved by the judge during NYRA’s bankruptcy, to help pay debts to the IRS and the state.
Maltz cautioned that their obligation is to the property owner – to maximize the proceeds. So despite any suggestions that people in the area might “get a preference,” any dealing that lowers bids is forbidden by law.
First, they will take bids on the entire package. Then, 22 “offerings” made up of lots grouped together “in a manner attractive to individuals and developers” will be auctioned. Finally, (most of) the individual lots will be auctioned one by one.
Whatever generates the most money for NYRA will prevail.
If you out-bid anyone else for a particular lot, you’re the winner – and then it gets complicated.
Each individual lot, no matter how large or small, requires a $7,500 deposit – if your parcel is two tax-lots, that’s $15,000. If you want the whole shebang, the deposit is $350,000.
Winners have to pay 10 percent of the selling price, plus a 6 percent “buyer’s premium,” within 48 hours; pay the full sales price (less their deposit) by certified or bank check, federal funds or wire transfer and close the deal within 45 days – or lose their deposit and premium.
The lots are offered “as is,” “where is” and “with all faults.” The seller guarantees there are no liens on the properties. It’s the buyers’ job to pay all necessary taxes and fees – and deal with the fences, pools, sheds and other things that neighbors may have left there.
Despite the area being zoned for one- and two-family row houses, getting one built can also be complicated. Some of the lots are too small or so oddly shaped, that you can’t actually build much on them without a “variance” from the zoning rules.
Much of the land is under mapped or existing streets. Hawtree Street, mapped as 70 feet wide and straight as an arrow, is actually a meandering 28-foot-wide asphalt strip almost entirely off its mapped location.
The drift seems to have carried over in other respects, with fences, hedges, sheds, pools and even the corner of a house, encroaching on or through land that’s up for sale.
NYRA had the boundaries carefully surveyed off last summer, but Fresh Meadows surveyor Ramzan Alli declined to comment on the results, citing a confidentiality agreement.
Likewise, a NYRA spokesperson declined to respond to any questions, instead referring to the auctioneer’s web site, www.maltzauctions.com.
New owners of property including “roadbed,” mapped or otherwise, have to go through the Uniform Land Use Review (ULURP) process, involving the local Community Board (CB10), the Borough President’s office and the Board of Standards and Appeals before dealing with the Building Department.
Other than that, it’s simple.
