An elderly Alabama woman is about to be evicted from the home she has lived in for 60 years after family members and investors move to sell her 100-acre ranch, which could be worth up to $20 million, to housing developers.
Corine Woodson, 84, is facing a foreclosure sale of her Hamilton Road property in Auburn, which based on other real estate deals in the area is estimated to be worth about $20 million.
Her husband’s family bought the 40.7-acre woodland more than 100 years ago, and it is now prime real estate thanks to the city’s growth in the 20th century.
But when his father died, the property was left to his children or their heirs, meaning dozens of people can now claim a share of the land.
Developers, The Cleveland Brothers, have bought up 49 percent of the property and are now forcing a sale, which could move Woodson off the old sharecropper farm.
The land was valued at $1.2 million sometime between 2002 and 2004. This value has increased exponentially since wealthy landowners moved in and the area developed into a college town thanks to nearby Auburn University.
Corine Woodson, 84 (pictured), is facing a foreclosure sale of her Hamilton Road property in Auburn, which could be worth up to $20 million
An elderly Alabama woman is about to be evicted from the home she has lived in for 60 years after relatives and investors moved to sell the property (pictured)
Because the land where Woodson’s house sits is not divided into lots, but rather based on percentage ownership (under an arrangement called “joint tenants”), if one owner wants to sell, everyone has to sell. (Image: the plot of land in Auburn, Alabama)
Woodson’s small, red-roofed bungalow is now dwarfed by giant Christmas card ESC mansions on adjacent lots.
Because the land where Woodson’s house sits is not divided into lots, but rather based on a percentage of ownership (under an arrangement called “joint tenants”), if one owner wants to sell, everyone must sell.
The family, which includes 23 great-grandchildren of the original owner, has been feuding over the property for some time. That included lawsuits and bickering between the parties.
Some say they were lured out of their share of the estate and signed over to others in the family.
“(Original owner Ben W. Woodson) bought it in an ideal spot,” said Ben Woodson, one of his grandsons Al.com in 2018. ‘Mansions are being built around it. When I lived there it was just forest. Now, you wouldn’t believe it.’
The original owner died in 1937 without a will, leaving the land to several family members. That launched the dispute
In 2005, Cleveland Brothers Construction Company LLC purchased the 4.1 acres owned by two of Woodson’s in-laws – Mary and Catherine, for an average of $150,000 for the two properties.
This initially gave them an ownership of 15 percent of the 40.7 hectares, and they have since bought up further interests in the property from family members, up to a 49 percent ownership.
The land was valued at $1.2 million sometime between 2002 and 2004. This value has increased exponentially since wealthy landowners moved in and the area developed into a college town thanks to nearby Auburn University.
‘I would ask them: why? I can’t figure it out,” Corine Woodson said. Thinking about it and thinking about it, it’s not easy, I can tell you that
The company is awaiting a court-ordered appraisal before it can purchase the entire parcel of land under Alabama law.
Cleveland Brothers is allowed to do this because it came forward to propose the purchase before a court deadline. Woodson didn’t because she thought she already owned the property.
Corine Woodson’s daughter, Melissa Woodson, shared WTVM she feels ‘naive’ and helpless to change the investment that is now underway.
“I even said, ‘No one can just keep you from your property,’ and my family members said, ‘No, they’re not going to do that,’” Melissa said.
“We were, I think, naive or unaware of the law based on that time frame, but it’s happening right before our eyes. The sad thing is there’s very little we can do about it.’
Cleveland Brothers Inc has said Woodson will live on the property for a year after the sale is completed.