Trying to purchase in preforeclosure, but the clock is ticking. Should I attempt to buy it at auction?

I am in the process of purchasing a home that is pending foreclosure. Auction date is set for 5 days from now. The seller says they have asked for an extension of the auction date, and that would obviously be in the interests of the lender, but I don't really want to leave it to chance. I am exploring whether I should attempt to purchase the property at the auction if it comes to that. I believe I have a fairly complete picture of all of the liens on the property because the sellers have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, and I have seen their filing which lists all of their debts. I am assuming that people don't try to hide debt when filing for bankruptcy.

The notice of trustee sale shows a "published bid" of $120K, which is the amount of the original deed of trust, not the current amount owed (current amt owed on this loan is about $93K). I'm curious about why they use the amount from the deed of trust rather than the amount owed on the loan? Perhaps because same bank also has a second loan that they can't yet collect on (due to the bankruptcy)? Does that seem right?

Here's what I know:

The loan in foreclosure is in first position, with Bank of the West. Payoff amount appears to be about $93K. The lender on this loan was granted a relief from the automatic stay that the bankruptcy allowed.

Bank of the West has a second mortgage (line of credit), for $146K. They have asked for relief from the automatic stay, but it hasn't yet been granted. It will go into effect automatically but not before the currently scheduled auction date. So far as I can tell Bank of the West can't collect on this loan?

Since only one of the two B of W loans is being foreclosed, and it's in first position, would the 2nd BofW loan be wiped at the auction? (Of course BofW would be stupid to proceed with the auction if so, but that assumes that bureaucracies are capable of reason)?

There are two other junior liens totalling about $40K, which I expect should be wiped away at the trustee sale.

The property is worth about $325K. We haven't done full inspections but it's in great shape from what we can tell.

Preliminary title report validates all of the above.

Do they tell you at the Trustee Sale exactly which liens will stay with the property, and which liens are wiped? Or do you have to know that in advance and factor it into your bidding?

Is there any way out of a sale if you discover some major problem with the title afterward? Or are you pretty much stuck with it?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Comments

I am assuming that you are purchasing this through a Short Sale with a real estate agent who is listing the property? If that is the case, the listing real estate agent should be responsible for getting the bank to postpone the foreclosure sale.

If you are not going through a short sale process, then I cannot imagine how you are buying this property from the current owner. Unless you are willing to pay all of the loans and all of the liens and all of the closing costs?

If you are buying directly from the Seller and there is not a real estate agent representing the Seller, then you need to contact Bank of West immediately with proof of your executed real estate purchase agreement and proof of the open escrow and title.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.

More information about formatting options

Before You Post

All comments should be relevant to the topic of the post and are subject to the terms found in our User Agreement.

Asking a Question

If you'd like to ask a new question, please start a new topic.

Please no SPAM.

We nofollow all links and promptly remove unsolicited advertisements - spamming here is a complete waste of your time, so don't bother. Vendors who actually answer questions and provide value to our forums may include links to their company or service as part of their signature.