RICH

I had a thread a year ago, here: old thread

This week the court entered a Default on the next door house, which I think means the house will be auctioned in a month or so. (Is that how it goes?)

I am thinking about a lo-ball bid. Anyone done this? How was the process. What would make it a non-starter, economics aside?

Local county web info: online auction

FWIW I bought my house by online bid, from HUD 6 years ago, but am non the wiser how this could/should go.


Thanks All!

Pulaski

The likely first thing that will happen is that the bank owed the money will send their lawyer down to the courthouse (or if I read your post right, on-line) to bid whatever the bank is owed, thereby ensuring than the bank gets to control who gets to buy the house and for how much, and that it isn't "stolen" for a lot less than the anount owed. True low-ball bids rarely succeed in foreclosures where the mortgagee has defaulted.

Tax lien foreclosures can have greater potential for winning with a low-ball bid, depending on how much the tax lien is allowed to increase before the taxing authority forecloses.

RICH

Sounds like a reasonable assumption. So the bid would need to cover the outstanding debt to be viable? Or the bank not paying attention, or wrote it off?

I was thinking a $20k bid max, given the old thread, where I guesstimate the debt, which is also in line with the vacant lot sales last year.

Pulaski

In virtually all cases the bank has sold the debt, so it is not within the bank's power to just write it off. There will be no harm done in trying a low-ball bid, but it depends entirely on what the bank lent, what it does, and of course who else bids. I would like to try a foreclosure auction one day myself one day, it sounds like fun.

scrubbedexpat091

Just curious is a bank forced sale the same as a foreclosure?

I know it's in Canada but maybe the US does something similar, the house next to the mother in law recently sold but the sign on the real estate sign out front said bank forced sale.

I know the people who lived there didn't own it, the husbands mom did, and she died unexpectedly from a heart attack and paid the mortgage, so I assume that's why the bank forced the sale.

Sold for a nice chunk of change 789,000.

scrubbedexpat097

I wish we had tried to buy the foreclosure next to us.

What is it about that house that attracts crazy people? Never fails..3rd one in a row! Mind you looking at what is going on there it may be back into foreclosure again soon

Redwing

You're absolutely correct. The last one I was at, the bank was owed $400,000. I knew 2 of the bidders, and one told me she was going to bid a max of $300,000. The bank was the lone bidder at $400,000.

scrubbedexpat099

Happens all the time, Bank buys it back.

RICH

Disappointing. I just registered on the auction site and a quick search revealed 6 sales this year in my zip code with BoA as the plaintif/bank. All were won by BoA using $100 auto bids. 2 they got for the $100, the others for $100 over the next bidder, but substantially less than the judgement amount, which I suppose what they are owed.

2 more sales are scheduled, so I will watch those. Mine is not listed yet, so a bit more court action to come I suspect.

Interesting though, very e-bay-like.

Pulaski

It's pretty much a required step to get the property registered in the name of the bank so that the bank can sell it.

RICH

Odd thing. I am on the prowl for a disney villa to rent, and I dug up the address of the one Dad rented 10 years ago. Perusing the public records, it was apparently acquired last month at auction, by the HOA for $100 who had a lien for fees, and not the bank with the 250k mortgage... what can one make of that info?

Pulaski

The bank wasn't notified and dropped the ball (didn't notice). ...... I suspect the bank will sue the HOA for the value of the mortgage, so the HOA had better make sure they sell it for at least that much!

scrubbedexpat099

Somebody screwed up?

username.exe

So, the owner just got fed up with getting whacked with HOA fees and presumably various fines for not doing whatever they wanted them to do?

Even so, this could turn out to be a lucrative business for a local HOA.
If they sell for a profit, what do they get to do with the funds? Are they under obligation to make that information publicly available?

scrubbedexpat099

A friend of mine was fined by her HOA $100 for over watering her plants.