Genesee County

The Genesee catalog

Genesee's catalog for October 30 shows 37 lots. The spreadsheet behind it lists 349 parcels: 287 in the City of Flint, 26 in Mt. Morris Township, 13 in Flint Township, 10 in the City of Burton, and a handful in Genesee, Vienna, Gaines and other townships. The difference between 349 parcels and 37 lots is bundling.

The 35 individual lots open at $350. They include houses in Flint (single-story, two-story, one boarded, one fire-damaged), vacant residential and commercial lots in Burton and Mt. Morris Township, a commercial building on South Dort Highway, an occupied modern house in Mundy Township, and a mobile home park on North Dort Highway in an industrial part of Flint, for which the auction staff tell bidders to check use restrictions with the local government first.

The other two lots are bundles. One is listed as 114 vacant lots sold together for a $39,900 minimum (the spreadsheet holds 115 parcels under it, 113 in Flint); the listing warns bidders to weigh the liability and yearly taxes of owning that many lots before bidding. The second bundle, 199 parcels with a $69,300 minimum (151 in Flint, 23 in Mt. Morris Township, 12 in Flint Township), is flagged as requiring a demolition and performance bond. Read its terms on the lot page before you consider it.

Why Genesee bidding is different

In the October 30 sale, every other county's no-reserve catalog is subject to a bidding policy: no more than 24 bids per bidder across all of them combined. The auction service states that Genesee County is excluded. You can bid on as many Genesee lots as you like, without using up your 24 bids for Berrien, Kalamazoo or the other counties.

The format is the same sealed no-reserve auction: no live bidding, best and final maximum bids placed in advance, bidding closes at 7:00 p.m. EDT on October 30, and winners are calculated on the Monday after.

Being uncapped is also the risk. Every lot you win must be paid for: you cannot drop one and keep the others. Failing to complete a purchase forfeits the $1,000 card pre-authorization you placed to bid and bans you permanently from these auctions.

How bundles work

A bundle is a group of parcels the seller has decided to sell only together. Parcels inside a bundle are no longer available on their own, and the bundle's minimum is the sum of the minimums of the parcels it contains. Win the 114-lot bundle and you own more than a hundred lots, each with its own tax bill, mowing, and liability to the City of Flint and the school district from then on.

The cost of any lot, bundle or not, is the winning bid plus a 10% buyer's premium, plus the current summer taxes, plus $30 for recording the deed. You also take on any remaining installments of special assessments from the year of purchase. Liens for demolition, safety repairs, debris removal, water or sewer are cancelled effective December 31. The auction service also suggests checking with the city, village or township that no demolition is scheduled on a property you want.

Reading the numbers

The SEV shown for each parcel is the State Equalized Value, half of the assessor's value, and for 2026 foreclosures it generally dates from the 2023 tax year. For Genesee's parcels the median is $9,000; 62 parcels are at $20,000 or more. The mobile home park carries an SEV of $163,300 against a $350 opening bid, and the SEVs of the 199 parcels in the demolition bundle add up to about $3.9 million against a $69,300 minimum. An old SEV can mislead in both directions: a house assessed in 2023 may since have been stripped or burned.

Addresses and photos are a guide only. Parcels are sold by legal description, without a survey, and you cannot enter a structure before the sale without the seller's permission; doing so is trespassing.

After you win

Payment and notarized paperwork (receipt and buyer's affidavit, plus an entity affidavit if you buy through a company) are due within five business days. Payment is by wire, cashier's check or card with a 2.75% fee; money orders are not certified funds and are refused. You may not buy if you owe delinquent property taxes or civil fines in Genesee County.

The deed is a quitclaim deed and the former owner's redemption rights are gone. It is recorded and mailed in roughly six to eight weeks, and until then the county can still cancel the sale. Occupants are tenants holding over and are removed only through District Court. Personal property left behind is not yours.

If a parcel brings more than what was owed, those who held an interest in it before foreclosure can claim the remaining proceeds under MCL 211.78t. Parcels still unsold after October 30 stay with the county and may later go to a land bank or a local unit of government.

Three ways people lose money here

1. 1. Treating no cap as no risk

   Genesee bids are unlimited, but every win must be paid within five business days.

2. 2. Underestimating the 114-lot bundle

   It is one purchase, then over a hundred tax bills and lots to maintain.

3. 3. Trusting a 2023 SEV

   SEV is half of an old assessment. Inspect from the street and check city records.