Fire-damaged home in Marathon one step closer to foreclosure

A home on Swift Street in the village of Marathon. The house suffered damage from a fire about a year ago. (Photo via Google Maps).

The village of Marathon provided a recent update on a property of interest to the community.

The property at 5 Swift St., which was damaged in a fire that occurred about a year ago.

“The property has now been listed by the county as delinquent on taxes,” said Village mayor Scott Chamberlin. 

Village treasurer/clerk Laura Padbury said she estimates no taxes on the home have been paid for the last two years.

Village board trustee Ralph Canfield said the property will now be foreclosed on unless the owner can pay the owed taxes a week before the county’s tax delinquent property auction takes place. Canfield said the auction could happen sometime in April.

“The property remains on the delinquent list and will have formal foreclosure papers served on them by the county attorney. That starts the process,” he said. “Those papers will be served 90 days after the auction. The owners have been notified that foreclosure is pending in the auction.”

If the property doesn’t sell during the auction, then the county would take over. 

“Those papers are filed with the county clerk,” Canfield said.

The county can then try to auction off the property again. 

“That is usually not practical,” Canfield said. 

Another option, he noted, would be to get a company to buy the property.

Chamberlin told residents at a recent village board meeting he will be tracking where the property ends up.