Municipal officials want house sold online demolished
Penn Hills officials hope to see a house sold on eBay demolished.
Mark Bartholomaei, a Sewickley attorney, purchased the house at 5319 Verona Road for $18,000 at a sheriff's sale in March and sold the property on eBay for $22,100 in April.
Since then, the municipality filed three charges against Bartholomaei for not obtaining an occupancy permit, having a structure unfit for occupation and owning a building without providing safeguards from fire.
Municipal officials learned about the house being sold on eBay when the Florida couple who bought the property visited the code enforcement office to express their concerns about the house's condition. Robert Hunter, code enforcement director, would not release the names of the buyers to protect their privacy.
Though Bartholomaei says he has a sales agreement with the couple, county property records still list him as the owner. The Florida couple has the deed and needs to file it with the county to finalize their ownership, he said.
"I sent them a picture of the house before they bought it," Bartholomaei said. "I am trying to work out the issues with them. It boils down to the husband bid on the house without the wife knowing and he hadn't looked at the house before bidding."
Bartholomaei, who chose eBay for its broad reach, admits the house is not in great shape. He was hoping to make a profit on the sheriff's sale after friends did the same with another property. The house went up for sheriff sale because the previous owners, Charles and Joanne Abbott, owed more than $22,000 in delinquent taxes to the municipality, school district and county.
If the property is cleared, the Florida couple could make a profit by selling the land, Bartholomaei said.
The Florida couple were not the only bidders for the property. Ten other people from Pennsylvania and New Jersey were outbid for the property.
Bartholomaei believes the couple and a few others didn't check out the house before bidding. He said two months passed before the winning couple visited the house. The couple could have paid a local contractor $50 to check out the house before placing the bid on eBay, Bartholomaei said.
Fifty bids were offered for the property. The Florida couple outbid the next person by $100, said Bartholomaei, who did not have a reserve price for the auction.
"You pay for what you get," he said. "You have to take into consideration what you're bidding on."
It could have been much worse. They could have bought an Acura Integra from him.
Sorry for the inside joke/revisionist history. Please resume your normal activities.
Because It's Not Always About Me (Even Though It Should Be)
Been meaning to give this a "shout out" for a while now.
(click on pic for larger version)
My friend from Villanova, Chris Cashman, wrote and directed an independent film called Carts.
He's still in the post-production phase, but you lucky people can go check out the website for the film, www.insamwetrust.com. Be sure to bookmark it as more web content is sure to be coming.
For the myspace folks, there is a myspace page, myspace.com/cartsmovie. So, go and up your friend count by one.
For the people without computers, there is nothing for you guys. I would apologize, but I doubt that you would even be reading this.
I guess the latest propaganda magazine that my Alma Mater publishes has been making the rounds. Normally, it takes an extra day or so to make it to the West Coast, so my sweet copy has not arrived.
In the back of these publications, the school issues little blurbs about some alumni and gives the latest tally in the race to marry, give birth and die. Some of the ladies don't do things in that specific order, but we love them anyway. Basically, the whole thing is just fodder for my little sewing circle of friends to pick up the phone or drop an email to gossip. Especially when an ex-girlfriend is involved.. But anywho..
The point I was going to attempt to arrive at was - I am so glad I went to college when I did, 1991-1995. (Yeah, I'm frigging ancient) Even though the Internet would have made schoolwork much easier and the cell phone would have facilitated many a drunken hookup, I am utterly jubilant that I am not in college right now.
Why is that? Well, I'm glad you asked.
I've been checking out collegehumor.com a lot recently. Basically, it's free, it's funny and it has pictures of drunk & naked girls. All three are causes I can vehemently support. Essentially, collegehumor.com is going to prevent an entire generation from seeking public office as every evidential image of drunkenness, stupidity and debauchery that occurs on college campuses makes its way to the internet. With the proliferation of digital cameras & camera-phones, more and more of these pictures and sites will be on the Internet.
Now if this practice was around when I was in college, well, I wouldn't be on the Internet right now. I wouldn't even be in America. I would be in Uganda, atoning for my sins as a missionary of some sort. AND I WOULD NOT BE ALONE.
Therefore, it is a good thing that I went to school when I did. Not only do all my college friends get my obscure 80s references, but they keep the evidence of our youthful transgression hidden from the eyes of the public. Plus, I don't think my white ass would thrive in Uganda.
Plus, as friends and ex-girlfriends start to have children, I am also comforted to know that the evidence of their children's drunken exploits will be showing up on the Internet in less than twenty years.