What's It Worth?

2445 Portland Ave. So.

Minneapolis

Asking Price: $132,905
Assessed Tax Value: $505,500
Property Taxes (2009): $8,216
Last Sale: $480,000 (3/1/2007)

This 5,200 FSF, Brick Four-plex came (back) on the market late Friday afternoon. A quick look at its selling history indicates that it's been on and off the market, at ever lower prices, since July, 2005.

What it actually sells for is anyone's guess (I haven't been inside). But it's a safe bet that it's worth a fraction of the $505,500 the city says it is. Bet #2: it would sell faster without an $8,216 annual property tax bill attached -- more than the next owner's likely mortgage payments. (You'd further guess that those taxes haven't been paid in quite awhile, leaving a big, fat lien against the property.)

Such out-of-whack tax bills are one of the reasons many foreclosures languish on the market.