Just under half of the properties taken to Monday’s upset tax sale have a new owner.

The sale brought a total of 41 properties forward for unpaid 2020 taxes.

According to Warren County Tax Claim Bureau Director Phil Gilbert, 18 of those properties sold.

Gilbert shared data with the Times Observer that shows that 44 percent sale rate to be the highest since at least 2015.

The initial property list for the sale included just under 500 properties, a number that has declined the last couple years.

Over 200 properties remained on the list just a couple weeks ago.

For Monday, a minimum bid price is set that includes the back taxes and costs incurred by the county Tax Claim Bureau in preparing the property for sale.

Several sold for that bid price.

The highest bid on Monday, however, was for the property at 237 Old Pittsfield Rd., which sold for $24,000, well above its $8,439 minimum.

A one-acre parcel on Murray Hill Rd. fetched $16,000 while an Irvine Hill Rd. property sold for $15,000. All three of those properties are located in Brokenstraw Twp.

A Deerfield Township property – 6140 Morrison Hill Rd. – fetched $15,000 while 27 Warren Blvd. in Glade Township also went for $16,000.

For the properties that netted more than the opening bid price, there’s a pecking order that determined where the proceeds will go. It’s possible that the owners of record will receive a portion of those funds.

The properties that did not sell today will go to the judicial sale where the mortgages and liens attached to them at Monday’s sale will no longer apply.

County staff credit the decline on properties on the initial list to conversations with payers on the ability to make payments, online payment availability and improvements to the mailing and notification process. COVID-19 stimulus funds also likely play a part.