Bidders acquire 101 properties in Luzerne County delinquent tax auction

Luzerne County’s main annual August free-and-clear delinquent tax auction generated $525,555, according to a post-sale report from county tax-claim operator Elite Revenue Solutions LLC.

In total, 101 properties were sold at Thursday’s auction, with many attracting competitive bidding that drove prices up.

Formally called a judicial sale, the auction sells properties cleared of liens and back taxes because they were not purchased at a prior first-stage upset sale. As a result, judicial sale starting bids are set at lower amounts to recoup only the tax claim costs to bring the parcels to auction.

Separate from purchases through competitive auction bidding, three land banks acquired six properties using their trump bid authority, thereby removing those properties from Thursday’s sale.

Authorized by 2012 state legislation, land banks take possession of rundown parcels and attempt to get them back into productive hands. With trump bids, land banks have the authority to acquire free-and-clear sale properties by paying the starting bid.

The North East Pennsylvania Land Bank Authority acquired two properties in Duryea — one at 204 Meade St. for $948 and another with no location listed for $1,180, the report said.

Three properties in Wilkes-Barre were purchased by the Lower South Valley Land Bank, with the following listed locations and bid amounts, it said: 129 Scott St., $2,179; 19 Elizabeth St., $1,247; and 38 Bradford St., $1,990.

Finally, the City of Hazleton Land Bank acquired a property on North Laurel Street for $1,173, it said.

Top bid

The highest bid in the auction was $66,000 for a single-family residence in the 200 block of Wilkes Barre Street in White Haven, purchased by David Desposito, of 117 North Main LLC in Scranton, Elite’s report said.

Bidding for this property started at $3,909. The property is 2,488 square feet on 0.17 acres and assessed at $120,900, according to county assessment records.

The property carried a total of $63,962 in delinquent real estate taxes dating back to 2011.

Properties become eligible for auction if the owners owe taxes dating back two years. To avoid a sale, owners could pay the debt, enter into a standard payment plan if they haven’t defaulted on one in the prior three years, or obtain temporary removal through a court order or bankruptcy.

In the case of the White Haven property, the owner filed for three bankruptcies, preventing Elite from listing the property for auction, it said. The first bankruptcy filed in 2012 was terminated in 2018, but another bankruptcy was filed in 2018. The second bankruptcy was terminated or dismissed in 2022, but the owner filed a third bankruptcy when Elite tried to place the property in a 2023 auction. A sale was permitted to proceed because the owner surrendered the property as part of a bankruptcy plan in 2025, Elite said.

Because competitive bidding increased the purchase price, taxing bodies will recoup the back taxes owed.

In the largest quantity acquisition on Thursday, a representative of Double Diamond Resorts, the corporate owner of Eagle Rock Resorts, purchased 50 lots in the private residential community in Black Creek and Hazle townships, the report said.

The winning bid amounts for each parcel ranged from $1,273 to $4,500, it said.

An example is a 0.68-acre lot on Spice Bush Drive in the resort that is assessed at $20,000. A New York man had purchased this lot for $13,500 in 2018, and it landed in the auction due to $2,808 in unpaid real estate taxes dating back to 2023, county records show. Bidding started at $1,285 on Thursday, and competition elevated the purchase amount to $4,500.

The 39 properties that did not sell on Thursday will move to the repository pool, where they are available for purchase at any time.

Information on county tax auctions is available on Elite Revenue’s website at luzernecountytaxclaim.com.

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