Buying Property At The Courthouse
I've bought forclosures through a real estate agent but I'm wondering if there are better deals if you can buy them at the court house auction? Can anyone tell me a good book to read that would explain how this would work and the pitfalls that I should watch for. Any other info would be greatly appreciated.
May be able to find better deals but you have to be quick and do your homework fast. Once the default notice hits the steps you have 21 days to find the owner and make a deal to buy preforeclosures. A lot of the bargains are gone before the sale. At the sale is a good time to buy too. You need to make sure of other liens etc that will stay on the property. Liens where the owner did not borrow the money but stuff like the IRS hospital, city, state etc. Look for 10 year old mortgages or older or others with at least 50% equity. You may not be able to enter the property too so this must be a factor in the purchase price. I would follow the properties too after the foreclosure. I just bought a condo for $28,000 that sold at auction to the bank for $56,000 and it only needs $3000 in repairs.
Good LUCK and Thank You
Hope this helps some
Ted Jr
One of the usual requirements of the court house purchase is ALL CASH! (cashiers' checks please; NOT really "Dead Presidents", as one might be afraid to walk from the parking lot without an armed guard!).
So the buyer has to be armed with a pocketfull of cashier's checks to the amount he's willing to pay.
Let's say he's found that property where the S only owes $45000 on a $100,000 1st, on RE that's probably worth $200,000...maybe a great opportunity.
He knows from being on top of the situation for the last month or two that there will be a serious bidder or two who have been trying to buy it for $50-60,000 but our investor decides he could pay up to $80,000 and get a real bargain.
So our investor goes to his bank earlier in the week and arms himself, with bank loan money, with following cashiers checks, all payable to himself (which he can endorse over to Trustee if needed...or return to bank and easily cash & deposit to his account if NOT needed):
1 check for $50,000
2 checks for $10,000 @
1 check for $5,000
4 checks for $1,000 @
1 check for $500
$500 in cash
He has a total $80,000 in his pocket.
So, as bidding commences, he's got his money in hand and bids accordingly & with confidence that he's got the $$$ ready.
I've been to some TX Tax auctions where Sheriff told the little crowd, upfront, that anybody wanting to bid, needed to show Sheriff that person had the $$$ with him BEFORE the Sheriff would take any bids from him.
So how do I research the lein stuff? I need info on how to do that? I would need to know all of that even if I want to talk to the owner in forclosure to do a pre forclosure right?