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Roughly 20 purchases of properties from a pool, known as the repository, pending.


About 670 properties are stuck in limbo in Luzerne County because the property taxes have gone unpaid for years and nobody bought them at back-tax auctions.
The county&rsquo;s tax claim operator &ndash; Northeast Revenue Service LLC &ndash; is trying to market these properties so someone buys them and starts paying taxes on them again, company head John Rodgers told county commissioners at last week&rsquo;s budget hearings.
 Roughly 20 purchases of properties from this pool, known as the repository, are pending, said Northeast Revenue representative Sean Shamany.
The county has been trying to beef up repository sales for years and once even employed a full-time land disposition manager to try to sell this property, with little success.
 Some pending sales stem from Rodgers&rsquo; contact with property owners who live next to repository parcels, he said. Rodgers has also notified homeowner associations and mobile home park owners about available properties in their developments.
 A list of all repository properties up for grabs is also regularly updated and always posted on the company&rsquo;s website, www.nerevenue.com, along with an application form required to submit an offer, he said.
 &ldquo;A lot of people didn&rsquo;t know about these properties before,&rdquo; Rodgers said.
Interested buyers may submit an offer at any time. 
Most properties are listed at $800 or less. The back taxes were already forgiven at a past back-tax auction stage, and the bid amount allows the county to recover some costs associated with researching the properties for sale.
 When an offer is made, Northeast Revenue completes a title search to make sure there aren&rsquo;t any unforeseen issues with the property.
 All three taxing bodies &ndash; the school district, county and municipality &ndash; must approve the sale for it to take effect.
 County commissioners approved two repository sales last week, including a 0.11 acre vacant parcel on Rear Plane Street in Avoca that sold for $765.
 Rodgers said he is quickly processing purchase requests to get the properties back on the tax rolls.
 &ldquo;It&rsquo;s been pretty successful,&rdquo; he said. 


Interested buyers may submit an offer at any time. Most properties are listed at $800 or less. The back taxes were already forgiven at a past back-tax auction stage.

About 670 Properties Are Stuck In Limbo