Ex-mayor of Schenectady laughs to the bank
George Pataki’s photo appears on the cover of the Real Estate Appraiser Newsletter, the quarterly publication from the Department of State. In the most recent publication, two appraisers received sanctions for "communicating appraisal reports that were inaccurate and misleading." Translated this means: the properties were given a value that was too high and, evidently, unsupported in the subjects market area.
Much has been said regarding shady real estate deals in recent years. The terms, flipping, predatory lending, and misrepresentation are just a few words representing grossly over-priced real estate sales. These sales are presumed not to be arms length transactions, but ones where buyers are either unaware of market values in an area, or they have poor credit and are willing to pay very high interest rates or high sales prices to obtain credit.
The Governor has instructed the Department of State to actively pursue those in a position of expertise and holding a position of fiduciary responsibility that participate in and facilitate transactions which are questionable and do not represent what would be considered an arms length transaction.
Interestingly, the sales pictured in this column (and which have prompted it) are two houses on the same street. One, number 28, is listed as a four unit; the other is a two unit. Both are on record as being between 1800 and 1900 square feet, and they both are in the least desirable neighborhood in Schenectady. The area is so bad that your correspondent was chased when taking photos of the sales by three large black men in a car at high speed through the neighborhood. I avoided a car-jacking and likely being shot by not stopping for traffic control devices and eventually accessing the freeway.
The house with the indicated sale price of $122,500 was listed in the local newspaper, and in the assessor’s records, as being owned and sold by Albert Jurczynski and his wife - Al is the former mayor of Schenectady, and now has been hired by the Governor to fill a nice patronage job in the state. It was sold to a man from the Bronx. The house in the photo next, located across the street and selling for $63,200, is a comparable sale provided by a friend of mine who also indicated that there appeared to also have been sales concessions made by the seller. He was unable to find any recent sales in the neighborhood supporting the $122,500 sale price of Al’s house.
What is interesting is that the price is an eye popper for that neighborhood; for that amount a person can buy a fine house in another area of the city where there is almost no chance of being car-jacked or shot. And the sale was made to someone from a very different market area, but it has caused no eye-brow-raising or investigation by the ex-mayor’s new employer. Here you have the classic situation which the Governor is all in a tizzy about, and there is no news of any investigation into what appears to be an absurdly inflated sale price. You would think that the Governor would be concerned over what appears to be exactly the type of real estate transaction he zealously prosecutes being facilitated by someone right in his own employ.
Of course there could be a perfectly good excuse for the price. Perhaps the house was sold fully furnished and renovations were done with materials, finishes and hardware usually found in Edison Woods or some other fine neighborhood. But that would come out with an investigation exonerating Al, and it would show that the Governor isn’t particularly selective in the way he applies his concerns over people being taken unfair advantage of when purchasing real estate. Meanwhile, we can only assume the worst.
posted by Smith @ 11:55 AM
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