Man's house sold by city for $500

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BALTIMORE, July 29 (UPI) -- City officials admit a clerical error resulted in a Baltimore man unknowingly forfeiting his home and having it sold for less than $500.

Jim Urbanski purchased and renovated a shell of a house for $45,000 in East Baltimore in 2006, eventually renting it out. To his surprise, in February he learned that the property had been sold by the city to a legal firm for $497, the Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.

"I was in shock. I'd made my mortgage payments, taxes ... I couldn't figure out why the city would sell my property at a tax sale," Urbanski said.

After dozens of phone calls he learned that a deed transfer and other paperwork never got to the Department of Public Works which was sending notices of bills for boarding up and cleaning the vacant property to a wrong address.

City officials reportedly called the case an unusual and obvious mistake, promising the tax sale was being voided. Urbanski said he is waiting for the paperwork as proof.

"It's been an experience. I wouldn't want to do it again," he said.