Buffalo church property dropped from eBay

A historic East Side Buffalo church that was being offered for sale on eBay has been removed from the Internet site.

City of Buffalo officials, coupled with its Anti-Flipping Task Force, were able to convince the investment group that bought the church last fall to drop it from eBay's online real estate listings. The vacant, former St. Matthew's Church at 1066 E. Ferry St., had been sold at last October's in rem sale.

"This shows how serious we are about preventing fraudulent flipping in the City of Buffalo," said Mayor Byron Brown.

In its most recent use, the church had been owned by World Wide Bible Deliverance Church Inc., which acquired the century-old chapel a decade ago. After falling behind on property taxes, the church was included in the city's twice-yearly In Rem auction.

Brown said community leaders learned the church was being offered on eBay and contacted the city. Under the terms of the In Rem sale, properties that are purchased during the sale are not allowed to be "flipped" or quickly re-sold.

When the city heard about the pending sale, its anti-flipping task force contacted the owners and asked them to withdraw the church from the eBay listings.

"We have succeeded in preventing a cycle of destructive flipping with respect to a significant East Side property," said local attorney Kathleen Lynch, Buffalo's Anti-Flipping Task Force coordinator.