Buy at sheriff's sale or during redemption?
Here’s the situation. Rural Minnesota. The sheriff’s sale is Tuesday morning May 13. I spoke with homeowner, "Senior," two weeks ago; he claimed no knowledge of the foreclosure; said it's his son's problem now. Senior has a bankruptcy from 5 years ago, but apparently was able to keep the house. "Junior," (age 23) lives in and “is responsible” for house. Senior is now out of town. Junior, who I never reached despite many tries, is apparently also out of town. Both are shady characters. Lender says they’ve been foreclosed on before, and paid off, but always before the sheriff’s sale. I can possibly buy their $30-40,000 property at the Sheriff’s sale for $15,000 (few people show up for Sheriff’s sales here), and I have the cash (but not much more) available. I'm also concerned that the property looks rundown, almost abandoned (but would they leave their dogs?) Seems there’s a redemption risk which would leave me out of the picture, though presumably paid off. If I buy the property at the Sheriff’s sale, can I assess penalties of my own if they redeem, since I now own the mortgage? How much? Would I be better off to wait til owner returns and try to option/buy their redemption interest in the property before the redemption period expires? Or does this all sound too risky? Thanks![ Edited by loon on Date 05/12/2003 ]
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