House coming down

Looks like the dilapidated house on South Cottonwood will be coming down in the next week or two. There has been stuff in the hopper on this for the past few months, but I have avoided talking about it here, as I did not want some speculator to become aware of it and attempt to purchase it, or something like that.

Here's the deal with it. (from my recollection--I may have some details slightly wrong) The homeowner let it go back to the bank. The bank did no upkeep on it. So the property became a massive eyesore. The city tried to purchase the house from the bank (Citibank I think), but they would not talk to us. They also refused to pay any taxes on it. So the house went to a sheriff's sale.

Some other individual bought the taxes on it, but didn't do anything with the house. So we as a city went to court to take over the property. As it should be, it is very difficult for a city to take over a property. There are lots of legal hoops to go through, which again, I think is good, to protect people from getting their property claimed by a government entity.

Adding to this, the Iowa Legistlature had recently changed the rules regarding this, so the judge and the county officials wanted to make sure they had done everything right. So that added to the delay.

The judge eventually ruled in our favor to take over the property. So we had to return the money to the individual who had purchased the taxes on it.

Then we had the house inspected, and found there was asbestos. So we have gotten that abated. And FINALLY, we should get the house, and the dead trees, and all the junk torn down and hauled away in the next couple weeks.

So the city will have a lot to build a house on. No decision has been made on what to do with it yet, or what we might sell it for. But if you, or someone you know, are interested in a city lot, in an established neighborhood with mature trees, and all that, let City Hall know.