WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A local contractor Wednesday purchased a White Oaks resident seized by the town through tax title foreclosure.

 

Jerry Smith of Williamstown was the successful bidder in a two-person auction, bidding $15,500 for 87 White Oaks Road on Wednesday morning in the Selectmen's Meeting Room.

 

Town Finance Director Janet Saddler conducted the auction, which she started at $40,000. Hearing no bids, she dropped the asking price in $5,000 increments.

 

When her proposed opening bid reached $20,000, she informed the bidders she would not accept a price lower than $14,000, which elicited a bid at that level from Smith. His opponent raised the price to $15,000 before Smith was the last man standing at $15,500.

 

"I purchase properties, I add value and then I resell them," Smith said afterward, explaining his motivation for the purchase.

 

Smith said he has rehabilitated "six to eight" properties in Williamstown in the last 20 years.

 

He said he did not know how much rehabbing or rebuilding would be necessary at the property. He did have a chance to see the interior of the house prior to Wednesday's sale.

 

"That will become clear within the next couple of weeks, after I get some estimates," he said. "The house has suffered neglect because of no maintenance, no heat. It's been sitting for, I think, as long as five or six years."

 

Despite the high number of single-family homes currently for sale in the town, Smith was optimistic about the prospects of a return on his investment.

 

"It is a market in which it's a lot of work," he said. "It's not like TV. … You can't do it in half an hour.

 

"It's good for everybody. It helps the neighborhood, helps the community, helps put a higher value on the house at the end of renovation."