What does it mean when a house is "SOLD TO BANK"? And what happens to that particular house?

The foreclosing lender gets to make the first bid at a trustee sale. This is called the Opening Bid or in some cases the Drop Bid. If there are no 3rd party investors that bid against the bank then the property is Sold to Bank. The property will then transfer to the banks REO department (Real Estate Owned). What happens from that point depends on the bank. Some REO Departments would then hire an agent to list and sell the property and others hire an asset manager to handle the sale of the property.

Is it possible to purchase that property from the bank?

It is "possible" to purchase a property directly from the bank and we have heard of several people who have done so. It is NOT an easy task since most lenders prefer to send the property through their "process" to sell. (The lender must do an occupancy check, check/establish the value to establish the price etc). It will also require some tenacity when it comes to finding the right person at the REO Department that actually has the file on this property. It is helpful to have other contributing factors like an all cash buyer that is ready to close.

However remote the possibility, could an investor contact that bank immediately after the trustee sale and try to purchase with all cash? If so, any tips on finding the right person at the bank? (Please don't laugh!)

What usually happens is the bank assigns the property to an asset management company, who then assigns the house to a realtor (how they choose which realtor I don't know, but the realtors apply with these companies to get on the list). The realtor's job is then to make sure the house is vacant, do minor touchup and staging, and get it on the market to make as much as possible. I've spent the last 4 months trying to get Chase to sell me the house we had been renting for the last 3 years. I have cash and have put in offers on other Chase properties, but supposedly they are not interested, they "have" to put it on the market for 3 days. So in my opinion, no, it's not likely, unless it's a small bank and you are dealing with a specific human, not a call tree.

Every bank has different rules and policies on how they sell properties. Chase has several investors and uses at least 8 different asset managers. Talk to the agent when they do the occupancy check to see what can be done. If they are taking this approach you will undoubtedly need to move out of the house so that they can list it. Keep asking the question and realize that there may be additional opportunities as the house progresses through the "process".

Thanks for this articles. A bank connects customers with capital deficits to customers with capital surpluses. You can visit rapidorg.com for more information.