Councilwoman Ragen Hatcher is looking to buy a new house in Gary’s Miller section, but is debating the price with city officials.
Hatcher, 40, who already lives in Miller, is looking at a house in the 800 block of Vermillion Street.
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The house, which officials said has been vacant for more than six years, had fallen into foreclosure and the bank that held the title ultimately turned the property over to the Gary Redevelopment Commission.
Earlier this year, Redevelopment officials placed the property up for bid. Last month, it was revealed that Hatcher’s bid of $65,001 made her the only bidder for the property.
Hatcher said that dollar figure was derived from information provided by the city as to the property’s value. In fact, she said she specifically added the “$1” to her bid because she feared someone else might bid $65,000 as well.
“I have had my eye on this house for a long time,” Hatcher said. “I didn’t want to lose out by bidding too low.”
When Hatcher submitted her bid to Redevelopment officials, her own work to get an independent appraisal of the property’s value was not yet complete.
But since that late-June bid opening, the Nelson Appraisal firm in Valparaiso gave the house and its property a sales appraisal of $25,000 and a cost appraisal of $37,000.
That led Hatcher to appear before the Redevelopment Commission on Monday to attempt to withdraw her $65,001 bid.
Commission members voted 4-0, with Marion Johnson absent, to allow her to withdraw her bid.
Gilbert King, the commission’s lead attorney, said a 30-day time period must pass while commission officials review the private appraisal Hatcher obtained for the site.
Once that time passes, then the two sides will negotiate to try to reach a new price for Hatcher. “She has an appraisal that shows the property is worth less than what she bid,” King said.
Hatcher said that while she still wants the property, “I don’t want to overpay for it.”
Hatcher is in her second term as a member of the Gary Common Council, where she served from 2008-11 as an at-large member, a post she gave for up a failed bid for mayor in 2011. She was elected to a council post in 2015. In May, she won the Democratic primary for a bid to move on to the statehouse, replacing longtime Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, who is retiring this year.
Hatcher is unopposed for the Nov. 6 general election.
Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.