- BUYING FORECLOSURES
- HOW TO PURCHASE AT A FORECLOSURE SALE
- FIND PROPERTIES THAT WILL BE SOLD AT AUCTION:
In all foreclosure auctions, a notice must be published locally. Although your county clerk's office is a great real estate resource in identifying foreclosures, it can be very time consuming and not worth the headaches when this information is readily available here. Foreclosure Times.com offers the largest real estate database of foreclosure homes in the country, including Bank REO, Pre-Foreclosure, Government Foreclosures including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), HUD, Government Services Agency (GSA), and even the Internal Revenue Service plus bankruptcy and by owner properties.
BIDDING AT AN AUCTION:
If you think you want to purchase a foreclosure property, you must check the title, get a true value for the property if it is sold on the open market, and allow for sales costs, fix up cost etc., when deciding to bid.
If you win at auction, you do not become the owner of the property. You get a "Certificate of Purchase." This certificate entitles you to receive interest money, at the rate of the first mortgage. However, a Certificate of Purchase is subject to redemption by the owner or by junior creditors.
AFTER THE FORECLOSURE SALE
Once a Certificate of Purchase has been issued, you must then present cash or certified funds in the exact amount of your property bid. The Public Trustee will then obtain a redemption amount. If an owner wants to keep their property, they must pay the redemption amount in cash or certified funds to the Public Trustee. The present owner still owns the property until their redemption period ends. That period is normally 75 days (or six months for agricultural property), during which time they can pay off the Certificate of Purchase amount, plus interest and fees. In this case, no Public Trustee's Deed is issued.
During the owner's redemption period, any junior lienors, or creditors, with a recorded interest in the property can also file their "Notice of Intent to Redeem." The junior lienors who file these Intents have specific time periods (after the end of the owner's redemption period) in which they're allowed to redeem if the owner does not.
If no one redeems and all the redemption periods expire, the Certificate of Purchase holder (potentially you) can be issued a confirming Public Trustee's Deed. In this case, the title vests free and clear of all liens and encumbrances junior to the foreclosed lien except omitted parties, or parties that were not notified of the foreclosure but who have an interest in the property.
And the property belongs to you!
