Cancelled Foreclosure Auction... Now what?

Question

A couple of the auctions for homes near me go cancelled, and I understand that this can be for a multitude of reasons, but I'm wondering how I can find out why the auction was cancelled? I'd like to continue to track these houses... where should I start?

Thanks.

Alan Brymer · Answer

I make a list of houses scheduled to be sold at auction and market to them.  I assume that the auction goes through on all of them and stop sending mailers, calls, etc on that date.

I guess I could go through the added expense of tracking each house individually to see if it was canceled so I could continue marketing to them, but I haven't bothered.

I don't really care if they go through or not if I'm not buying them.  This is usually a concern for the shlubs who attend auctions to bid.

Steve Babiak · Answer

If you are fortunate enough to be looking in the right places, some counties will give the reason.  I see things like "postponed to [date]", "bankruptcy", "stayed", "sold for costs", "sold to third party", and probably others that I can't remember offhand.
          
           "Sold for costs" end up as REO; "sold to third party" can sometimes end up as REO too (when a junior lien holder put in a bid to cover debt owed to him, and ended up highest bidder).
          
          The "postponed", "stayed" and "bankruptcy" listings are candidates to find their way back onto the for sale list in the future; they also present other possiblities as mentioned by Dan's earlier posting.
          
          Often, the sale can be be delayed when there is a signed arm's-length contract for sale of the property, so they don't always make it back to auction.
          
          And I did see (at least once) a default get cured in time to prevent the auction, where the foreclosure judgment at the county prothonotary ended up becoming "vacated".

Webb Sledge · Answer

No thanks.  I think I'll keep track of why they were cancelled.
                    
I want to continue following simply to be aware of what's going on with them and what's going on in the area.  I understand that these properties sometimes become REOs, which I'm very interested in as a real estate investor, or sometimes the owner will make-up back payments and get the house out of foreclosure (only to go back into foreclosure later), or sometimes the bank will decide to list it with a Realtor, etc. etc.
          
You can't pick these houses up at a discount if you don't know what's happened to them or who owns them.  I'm just trying to figure out how to find out where they've gone.

Jon Holdman · Answer

No, I can't see that they do.  There are two pages with relevant reports:

Sales Results lists two reports after each auction.  One is the list of properties that went to auction and the other is the list of continuances.  Looks like most properties that are continued are only continued for one week.

Sales Bids shows the bids for the upcoming or previous sale (Sales Bids) and the list of properties for the upcoming auction (Sales Report).

Comparing these, it looks like a majority of the scheduled properties actually get continued.  I'm not sure when the new bids are put up. I've just not watched too closely.  As of right now, about noon on Tuesday, last weeks bids are still up.  The auction happens at 10:00 AM Thursday.  So, sometime in the next 46 hours the new bids must be posted.

Teresa K. · Answer

Forget why they were canceled!  
You can go to your county web site or walk into to court house( where they record the real estate transactions) and look up by address or parcel number.  Give the county workers time to make the updates or record the updates.  
I am not sure why you want to watch these properties since they were kept by their original owner or purchased by an investor prior to the foreclosure auction.  Do you think they will again be sold and for a price range you are willing to buy?
Are there no other properties in your area that are of interest to you?  Or have you done all the prelim work in researching these properties and do not want the time to be wasted?

Nick J. · Answer

Jon, does the website publish why the auction was postponed?

Nick J. · Answer

start with asking the trustee

Jon Holdman · Answer

County of Denver publishes this data weekly on their web site.  Many sales get postponed several times, but then end up happening.  It does look like there are some deals at the auction, but you need cash on the spot.