The annual Nye County treasurer's sale in Pahrump garnered $579,765 in revenue on 162 properties, while a similar sale in Tonopah resulted in $20,718 collected on seven properties, according to Deputy Treasurer Angela Schallenberger.

The county had 164 Pahrump properties up for sale and 18 Tonopah properties. One Pahrump property was removed due to a court order.

The properties become eligible for auction after the owners were delinquent on paying their property taxes for at least three years.

The average price of each sale amounted to $3,578 in Pahrump, taking the amount collected divided by the number of properties. In Tonopah the average amounted to $2,959.

The requested minimum bids were in the range of $1,100 for quarter-acre to half-acre lots, which formed the vast majority of the properties in the sale. The exceptions were a $5,649 minimum bid sought for a tract on 5150 S. Hawkins Way and $5,058 for a parcel at 6811 S. Hafen Ranch Road.

Schallenberger said the treasurer's office was limited by time in conducting title searches on the property, or there would have been many more properties auctioned off this year.

Last year 65 people bid on 110 properties during the annual treasurer's sale.

Treasurer Gary Budahl told the county commission recently the property owner still has some recourse to claim the excess bid over the taxes owed.

As an example, he said, "If there were $5,000 of past due taxes, that was our minimum bid for the property. If it sold for $10,000, that excess $5,000 can be claimed by the previous owner within one year. If they do not reclaim it within one year, that reverts to the county general fund."

Local developer Bernard Hoffman said he successfully bid on 26 properties but made offers on a lot more.

"Some of them were minimum bid and some were a little bit more than minimum bid. But they're all good value relative to what's going on here," Hoffman said.

But he added, "You've got to be careful because with the market the way it is, you have to be careful you don't overpay for something because the values just keep going down. I was pretty conservative. Some people bid the prices up so high we stopped at a certain point. I had my limit, and a lot of people outbid me on a lot of property."

John Propps, a local builder since 1990, said he picked up five properties, two of which he figures were a good buy. The other three weren't but he hopes the market improves.

Propps proudly noted he got a deal on an acre and a quarter of land on Paiute Street in the Green Saddle subdivision for $8,000; three years ago lots were selling for $50,000 on the open market.

Propps said he was lucky to be reading the sports section in the Pahrump Valley Times when he noticed the legal notice for the county treasurer's sale with the list of properties.

"I got them mainly to resell them, unless the economy starts growing and I'll start building again," Propps said.

But Propps said he can't flip the property right away.

"What happened is we got up there to pay and then he tells me there's a two-year retention on this. You can't turn them. You can't sell them," said Propps.

"You got to wait two years in case people can come back and say they took this property illegally. They've got to go to court to prove it. But it can happen."

Propps said a local Realtor told him that only happened once in her recollection.

Schallenberger said the bidders were required to make payments in full for the properties the day of the sale.

But the sale went quickly, despite the packed house at the Bob Ruud Community Center, and the treasurer's office was able to finish early enough to get to the bank.

Schallenberger said an itemized list of the sale price of each of the properties won't be available until July.