TOWN OF TONAWANDA, NY (WKBW) — We learned about some zombie homes in the Town of Tonawanda. A viewer reached out to our Senior Reporter Eileen Buckley, who covers the voices of the Northtown’s for you, to learn more about these abandoned properties and got answers from the Erie County Clerk.
Watch: ‘Something's got to be done’: Town of Tonawanda resident raises concerns about zombie property
“It's very depressing because the previous owner kept it up — immaculate, and you see this night and day, it's sad, it's sad,” remarked Al Liberante, Tonawanda resident.
Al Liberante has a manicured lawn and garden outside his Montrose Avenue home here in the Town of Tonawanda, but across the street is this zombie home. He tells me the house was initially appraised after the homeowner died five years ago, but the family dropped plans to sell it.
“But they just walked away and foreclosed — stop paying taxes, and it went from closure in February of last year, KeyBank foreclosed on the house,” Liberante described.
Although this home is foreclosed, the resident says it remains an eyesore in his neighborhood.
“Something's got to be done. Just five years – come on, come on,” declared Liberante. "What's your message to anybody that can make a difference and maybe change this for you?” Buckley asked. “Help us out. Basically, someone help us, and that's why I sent this to you,” responded Liberante.
I wanted to help get answers for the resident, so I headed to the Erie County Clerk’s office in downtown Buffalo, which has a specific program called Zombie Initiative.
"We're the only clerk's office in the State of New York that does this,” explained Michael Kearns, Erie County Clerk.
Kearns researched the vacant property for me. The foreclosure process finally ended in December of last year, and it's now ready for auction.
“And believe it or not, it's up for auction in the Erie County Clerk's Office this Friday,” noted Kearns.
Kearns refers to this Tonawanda home as a “mortgage zombie” because the mortgage still needed to be paid off. But he says other abandoned homes are so-called "tax zombies", where people are failing to pay property taxes and they can't afford the county penalties.
"They charge 18% there's no payment plan, until you go into foreclosure, and it's creating these vacant properties,” Kearns commented.
Three more foreclosed properties could be found around the corner from Montrose on Wendel in Tonawanda.
According to the clerk's office, there are more than 13,000 zombie properties across Erie County.
