Record $2.5M spent at Westmoreland tax sale

Kimberly Brant of Adamsburg came to the Westmoreland County Courthouse with a pocketful of cash and hopes for a new home.

Jon Wildi of New Kensington hoped for a miracle.

Both saw their wishes come true Monday morning at the county’s annual sale of tax delinquent properties where a record of more than $2.5 million was spent to purchase 165 parcels.

Brant, 50, found a potential new home in Manor, successfully bidding $5,100 on a small home where she hopes to move after living for years in a mobile home in Adamsburg, near the site of an active shooter situation that left one person dead this year.

“It was time to go, and I studied real estate and thought, ‘Well, I’m going to do it,’ ” Brant said.

Brant considered a number of potential homes — in Sewickley, Adamsburg, Irwin and Herminie — but was outbid by some of the nearly 200 investors, home flippers and others who registered with the county to participate in Monday’s property auction. Her last option cost a bit more than the $5,000 she budgeted.

“I really didn’t have a plan when I came here, and I don’t even know what I just bought. It looks pretty good for $5,100. I have to go to the bank to get the extra $100,” Brant said.

Wildi, too, proclaimed success at the tax sale even without a purchase to his name.

He previously relocated his Wild Cat hoagie shop from Harmar to New Kensington in 2021 and said he didn’t realize the new Fifth Avenue building where he sells sandwiches to churches, schools and other organizations for fundraising was on the auction block until last weekend and after he was released from a lengthy hospital stay.

Wildi said he came to the courthouse to pay his delinquent tax bill, only to learn the county was not accepting payments the morning of the sale. Efforts to get a court-ordered stay of the sale also were unsuccessful.

“It’s devastating. I just sold my retail business, and I bought this to keep the wholesale business. I just received a second mortgage to remodel the upstairs,” Wildi said.

So he watched and waited as property after property in New Kensington was called for sale until his building came on the block at the opening price of $2,930 that reflected delinquent taxes for a two-year period and fees associated with the sale and legal documents to process the deed transfer.

As the opening bid was tendered, Wildi shouted that the property had a $90,000 pending mortgage and that he intended to challenge the sale. A would-be buyer recanted his bid, and the property remained unsold. Wildi said he will attempt to pay the delinquent property taxes Tuesday.

“I can’t believe I pulled it off,” Wildi said.

Westmoreland County published a 24-page booklet this summer of more than 2,000 tax-delinquent properties that were on the auction block. Late payments and court challenges cut the list to the 402 properties that were for sale Monday.

Tax bureau solicitor Tim Andrews said the annual auction marked a record in sales. The previous record came in 2020 when 135 properties sold for $1.7 million.

“I could tell there were more professional people today and the bidding numbers were high. It was a whole different looking thing, and more people are using these properties as investments,” Andrews said.