Posted by JoeKaiser on June 17, 1999 at 12:42:49:
What state?
I watched $70k slip thru my fingers today - Posted by Tyler
Posted by Tyler on June 16, 1999 at 20:06:17:
A couple of weeks ago, I saw a public notice for a trustee auction at the courthouse for a property with only $16,000 and some change plus fees due to the lienholder.
I went by the property, and based on market knowledge, immediately saw that the house could sell for $90k in less than a month. Probably $105 if I wanted to wait, and could flip to an investor for $70k in a day.
I had never been to a trustee sale before. Today was my first…and definately not last.
I went mostly out of curiosity, to see how things would go. I thought for sure the courthouse steps would be flooded with investors looking to steal this property.
It was me…and one other man.
Well, you know the rest of the story. Me, not having a cashiers check in hand, watched the other fellow purchase the property for $1 over the starting bid. Just a few dollars over $20k.
I could’ve cried.
I spent the rest of the day working on building lines of credit. This will never happen to me again. I can now see what kind of competition I have, and next time I’ll be ready.
Any advice on good ways to acquire fast lines of credit would be appreciated (Lord, I wish I could’ve gone to Atlanta!)
I’ll bet that guy was floating all the way home.
Next time, it will be me.
I love this game.
NT
Re: Did you really, now? - Posted by Irwin
Posted by Irwin on June 17, 1999 at 08:57:43:
Before you slit your wrists over this “lost” profit, call the Trustee and find out if the lien was a first, second or third. I’ll bet the property was being sold “subject to” superior lien(s), in which case you not only didn’t lose a huge profit, but you might have prevented a huge loss due to your inexperience. (What if there was a $75k first mortgage?) In the world of foreclosure sales, “not all that glitters is gold”.
How about a follow up report on this.
Re: I watched $70k slip thru my fingers today - Posted by Robert McNeely
Posted by Robert McNeely on June 16, 1999 at 20:55:37:
I saw the same thing 2 years ago, did not have my ducks in a row. Last Friday I closed on a foreclosure sale house, I had been the only one at the sale. The bank did not even show! Sales in our county are @ 10:00am then another @ 10:15 … this was the last sale of the day @ 11:00. I now have a 4 BR/2 bath home on the market for $135K, My cost $86,667. Be ready a “next time” will come for you too.
Yes, actually I did - Posted by Tyler
Posted by Tyler on June 17, 1999 at 11:32:58:
It was a first and only lien…I had checked it out already.
My inexperience is not in the logistics of buying RE…it is in finding a way to get multiple large cashiers checks in my hand the day of a sale.
I ain’t livin’ right … or the right area;) - Posted by HankM
Posted by HankM on June 17, 1999 at 18:02:37:
I’ve gotten pretty religious about attending the sales and I have to say that if something good is getting sold, the room is full … there are actually four sales a day T-F, sherriff and 3 “mills” …
I can just tell if there is something good, cause the guys with money … I mean serious money … are at the courthouse lookin’ at the files and then a quick trip to the recorder’s office and then there they are … like sharks with blood in the water … but you know what, they almost never buy the really great deals because there are 30 yahoos that want to live in the place there that bid it up to 75/80 cents and these guys quit around 60.
BTW if the plaintiff doesn’t show, the sale automatically gets continued, so there are no “steals”
Welcome to Chicago.
Hank
Re: Well, okay then, BUT - Posted by Irwin
Posted by Irwin on June 17, 1999 at 18:34:33:
there’s another possibility. Joe Kaiser is heading in the right direction by asking what state you’re in? I think you said that it was a Trustee sale, so there might be (probably is) a post sale right of redemption. If so, then the deal is still alive because the owner has a certain amount of time after the sale to pay off the lien and keep his property. What you have to do is contact the owner and find out what he intends to do. Maybe he already has it sold for $95k, and the lien will get paid off from the sale proceeds. Or maybe he’ll file bankruptcy. Or maybe you can walk in and make a heckuva deal for yourself.
All I can say is that if the sale you described actually passed clear title, without any redemptive rights, that’s not normal at all. That’s very, very weird. You might go to foreclosure sales for the next 50 years, with a ton of money to bid with, and never see this happen again. Keep diggin’ and report back.