Posted by JGoodsen on October 25, 2000 at 09:22:03:
In California the last step in the foreclosure process is a public sale of the property by a bank appointed trustee. Information on how to attend would depend on whether you just wanted to see one, or were interested in a specific property. Notices of sale are public record specifying the place, date and time of the sale.
You might find buying at the trustee sale is not where you want to start out. You do need cash. You do need to know how to do due diligence. You need to know how to “fight” the old boys network. There is collusion and game playing going on. In my county all properties worth buying magically end up being purchased by one of three people, and the others go back to the bank as REO’s. Course it isn’t legal, but it also probably isn’t worth fighting.
Can you make money on it? I’ve seen some breakdowns for some Northern California counties. Last month in seven counties the purchase prices ran from a low of 34% to a high of 93% of simple comparable value…i.e. just using sales prices adjusted for square footage, not adjusted for repairs, etc. Most of the purchase prices were running in the 60-80% range and the investor could expect to make between $36K and $84K per deal depending on what county we are talking about. Before your eyes light up with visions of easy profits dancing in your head remember they had to come up with as much as $400K liquid to make these deals happen.