Sheriff Sales

I keep saying I have this long story of a sheriff's sale. Maybe I'll put it in here tomorrow. It's a doozy. But I sure learned/am still learning a lot from it. As long as you do your homework you should be OK. The one we got will be extremely profitable when we're done, but there are a lot of things you have to watch out for.

Would love the reading, if you found time
for your story.. Will jst fill you in a bit on the sale.
House is in ruff shape, 1st floor plan must start from scratch. Bad layout, no bathroom 1st fl, needs new siding, 800 in back tax and had a new dormer/remodel done 2nd flr/roof few years back. Still working on the grant spec. payback for 2nd flr remodel. I do have a month till sale.

It sounds like you're describing the house we bought! for starters.

Hope its not the sameone,lol

On January 6, 2008 I attended a sheriff’s sale intending to buy a particular house which had been foreclosed on. The judgement amount posted in the paper was around $26,000. When the bidding started , the bank started at $40,000, which was what the amount now was. I said $41K. Another investor who attends MOST of these sales and has purchased several, said $42K. We went back & forth by $1K increments until I got it at $49K. I was glad he stopped because I had only brought $5,000 with me, which was 10% of what my highest bid would have been. (You have to have 10% cash the day of the sale)

Let me tell you a little about the house. All we knew about it was it was worth about $90K currently, but you can’t actually view the property or the inside of it until you own it. Or at least that’s what I thought. This other investor, I found out later, had been there several times during pre-foreclosure trying to get the people to sell. Anyway, the house is one of only a handful in our town that directly overlook the harbor of Lake Superior and the hills across the way. It’s a beautiful view and right by all the waterfront activity. I know it will be worth some money in the future, maybe even as commercial.

So I win the bid and go with the deputy (someone I know pretty well) up to the Clerk of Courts office and pay $4,900.00. I get a tiny paper receipt and he says someone should be in touch with you about the confirmation hearing date.

OK, so I wait. Nothing. Finally, a couple of weeks later I called and the clerk tells me, Oh that’s tomorrow. January 23. So I don’t know if I’m supposed to show up or what. I go to the confirmation hearing and the judge kind of looks at me like “Can I help you?”. I’m the only one in the courtroom. I told him what I knew and he smiles and says OK. So, by phone, the attorney representing the bank and the judge confirm the sale and that’s that.
The DAY AFTER, JAN 24th!!, I get the paperwork in the mail telling me the confirmation hearing is on January 23rd. Has all the information I would have needed.

Now I don’t remember which office I went to pay the rest of the $44,100, but I did that and they said I should be getting the sheriff’s deed in the mail. So I wait and wait. Finally it comes. I take it to the Register of Deeds so I can finally own the house and go on the property. But when I go to file it, we realize that the sheriff had accidentally written my husband’s name John instead of Jon. She said they couldn’t file it. Go to the sheriff’s office and get them to sign a different one. So I went down there. They said, “We can’t do that. The attorney has to write a different one.” I waited for days for the new deed. It came, I filed it and thought, Yay! I get to see the house!

So I went to the house, knocked on the door. No answer but a big black German Shepherd came barking toward the door. And as I peeked in, to my horror I couldn’t tell if someone actually lived there in that filth or if someone had actually left it like this. It was HORRIBLE! I left a note with our phone number and went home, disappointed. I googled the owners name and the first thing that came up was She was in federal prison for dealing meth out of that house! There was a whole writeup from the US Narcotics Bureau about raids on the house! I thought Great!! Whoever is there now, I just left them my phone number!

I wait like 2 days and then call the Sheriff’s Dept. and ask them what I should do. They said to go to the Clerk of Courts and get a “writ of assistance” form to get the people out if in fact someone is there. I go up to the 4th floor Clerk of Courts. “No, the Sheriff’s Department has those”. I go down to the first floor. “No, the Clerk of Courts has those.” Come on!!!! So I politely ask if maybe they could confer with each other. They do. Sorry, nobody has the form. I have to write one myself!! The lady at the sheriff’s office gives me one that’s blanked out so I can have an idea what I’m writing. I go to the library, type up my “writ of assistance”, make my 3 copies, bring them to the Clerk of Courts, who assures me that the judge will sign it the next day. Next day, no judge. The second day I call. “Oh, I’m sorry the judge wouldn’t sign it, you’re not a plaintiff in the original case. You’ll have to do a small claims eviction notice.” So I pay for and file that. Then I pay the sheriff’s dept. to serve papers to an unknown tenant who does not even reside at the place?

In the meantime I finally get a phone call from the son of the owner. He says they’re getting rid of the dog and we can get rid of anything left in the house. I videoed as I walked in for the first time. Oh my gosh, I’ve never seen such a sight. Dog poop, rotten food, baby items, every room HEAPED with garbage & stuff, including 4 live birds in cages overflowing with waste. Even years of family photos strewn everywhere. I sorted through everything and gave away what I could and carefully boxed up all the photos for the mom. We hauled dump truck loads to the dump. Then we proceeded to gut the downstairs, jack up the middle of the house, put in a downstairs bathroom, new walls, new plumbing, new wiring throughout. Basically it will be a new 3bdrm/2bath house. It’s going to be really nice! And finally, today, the abandoned Crown Victoria sitting in the driveway was hauled away by the city. (It belonged to the other brother, who was in jail)

Was it worth it? Yes! Did I learn a lot? Yes! But, boy, am I glad that it’s over.

Now, feel free to point out all the lessons I’ve learned and all the stuff I wouldn’t have had to go through if I’d taken the right precautions. Hopefully it will help someone else.

I wouldn’t be afraid to buy another one but I’ll do things a little differently.

WOW......
WOW.......
WOW......

I don't even know what more I can say.

Fact is stranger than fiction.

Sounds like you should be running the city.. Does anyone except you know what they are doing???

Interior of the house is typical.

That's why I like REOs. The bank or the realtor deal with all that stuff before you ever go in.

but isn't it a "double edge sword" so to speak? Sherrif/Gov sales and pre-fores you can mostly get cheaper than REO's, cause the realtor is going to want to 1) recoup their time (with $$) 2) make money.

Good story...PIA to go through I bet!

My only sheriff sale experience was pretty dissapointing. I think it was 2002. I went there the intent to spend all my savings(30k). I did my research and picked a house that I wanted. I did drive bys and checked it out. Looked nice. Worth about 175k at the time. Biding started at 2k, or something small like that. So I raised my hand....it went up and up. I went to my max 30k...it proceeded to go over 100k.

I was this litte want to be starting out investor with a measely 30k. I later learned the place was filled with people who were loaded, along with the bank bidding up the price.

I figured I would never be able to out bid anyone, so I never went to another one. The bank and the rich people will always get them.

D

But once the bank takes them back, they just want to get rid of them. You wouldn't believe how fast the prices drop. There are so many REOs right now! I haven't tried working with the pre-foreclosures yet. Got to get up the nerve, though, and try it.

D, don't give up on them, though. Maybe there's a lot of competition where you are. Here, there's just that one other investor, basically. Who says I shouldn't have just as good of a chance as him? You never know when you'll hit one week that nobody else bothers to come. I mean, you literally have to show up at the courthouse. Try going to a few more if you've got the means. It's kind of fun.

That other investor I was talking about, he gave me some pointers at a previous auction I had bid at. Another lady and I were going by increments of $100. It was so funny. All the guys were laughing at us, sheriff said "Oooh, a cat fight." Someone on the inside ended up getting that one. The guy told me "Next time bid by increments of $1000. It's more intimidating." I took his advice.

I certainly didn't have $50,000 cash laying around. I used $5,000 of savings and started a refinance on another house immediately after the auction. You have to pay the balance within 10 days of confirmation hearing. I finally got the money the DAY it had to be paid and was within like an hour of the deadline. That was a little close, but it all worked out. I try to be a little better prepared now.

Rina just pointed out why i will never attempt to buy @ a sherriff sale, they SUCK, thiers too many IF'S involved. Too many risks and not enough reward, and i know exactly what she is talking about when you go to the courthouse, they just bounce you around the damn place like it's nobodys business, yesterday i was @ my countys courthouse and thier a bunch of idiots, 1 person says go here, the other says there, i don't have time for that sh#!#$@, thats friggen rediculous, by the way i was there for about 2 HOURS for them just to say here's our web site, you can get the information on-line....GO FIGURE, YOUR HERO,SULLY.

Inspections are the big issue with buying at the sheriff's sale. Safer to get to them after the bank buys it. At least that way, you can get a full on inspection.

PRE-FORECLOSURE, before it goes to auction.SULLY.

agree

When there is an auction around here the place is PACKED! You now have to buy a seat/or the right to bid for $500. You get it back if you dont win any bids, and it is taked off the price if you do win any.

D

Do you have a smaller town nearby that might be worth looking into?

there are only 3 counties in Delaware. I think the whole state took on that new $500 rule. But the lower county (sussex - around the beaches) didnt have that many people there when I went.

D

How about out of state?

I am not sure I would be comfortable out of state..only cuase I dont know how they do it....Havent even nailed down how they do it in Delaware yet....

D

What else do you have going right now?

I put an offer on a house this morning, that was rejected. The listing agent totally lied to me or my realtor. See...when I went to see the place I called the listing agent to show it to me. I always have the lister show it to me...so I can ask questions.

So my realtor submitted the offer this morning and, the lister said they had already turned down an offer for more than my offer.

ummmmm....when Iasked the lister if they had any offers she said NO.

so the listed lied to one of us....total B.S! Frigging lier...that sheet ****es me off.

I also went to see another house in my neighborhood yesterday. It is weel under makrket, but it is all origanl. It would take a good 50k to bring this one back to market. The asking price plus the repair cost would put me at even. So I may low ball this one. Only thing is, it is a BIG JOB!!!

D

That's a good thing. Sorry about the liar. Not a good thing.

you know you love it, D. hey i didn't know that you were from DE, i'm pretty close to ya, I live in PA, thats good to know...YOUR HERO,SULLY.

what county...I am on the line.

D

D, always factor your repair/restoration costs into your offer. Sometimes it almost sounds way crazy low and i always get goofy looks from realtors on some of my offers, but the more you put in, the better your chances of getting in low and maximizing those profits!!! Of course you can always negotiate on the price but you have to figure your bottom line and your threshold for buying it, repairing it, then selling making a profit. Once you start negotiating on price and you increase, you have to start looking at where you can let your funds for repair/restoration take a hit, in other words, what can the house sell for profit with you not changing it?