Michigan Man Purchases All Properties at Tax Foreclosure Auction

For $4.8 million, a former yacht dealer snagged each and every foreclosed property available for sale at a Michigan county auction.

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To the dismay of eager investors, Bill McMachen bought all 645 foreclosed properties at a tax foreclosure auction in Macomb County, the ""Detroit News reported"":http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120803/METRO03/208030360/Emails-roll-after-Macomb-auction-binge?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE Friday. Among the properties bought, 403 were residential, 235 vacant land, and seven were commercial. The Detroit News also reported some 300 other investors were at the auction hoping to get a chance to bid before McMachen swooped up everything available.

However, McMachen told ""Fox News in Detroit"":http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/19173858/millionaire-buys-every-tax-forcloused-home-in-macomb-county?clienttype=printable that he is willing to sell some of the homes for near-auction prices and those who are interested can take a look at the properties before buying them, unlike the process at a foreclosure auction.

According to an article from ""AOL news"":http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/08/03/bill-mcmachen-michigan-buys-hundreds-foreclosed-properties/, McMachen said he expects to make a total of $10 million from selling his investment.

RealtyTrac VP Daren Blomquist explained that the act of purchasing properties in bulk at low prices could hurt home values in an area, especially if the investors treat the properties like stock and don't add value into the properties.

Blomquist also added that since the situation was a tax foreclosure auction, the foreclosure involves a county that is foreclosing on the property as opposed to a lender.