Buying before Auction

[Amir Saeed]

Hello

When a property is about to be auctioned at the courthouse basically it means that the owner is in pre-foreclosure. I assume the owner can still bring all the requirements up to date before the last minute, and prevent the auction.

My question is if I approach a home owner with a property that is scheduled to be auctioned at the court house. Can I still assist him by buying the property, lets say the property owner has two to three weeks before his property will be auctioned, and lets say the home owner cannot correct the situation, and he is willing to sell it. Would the bank still work with me on such a short time line or I will just be wasting my time.

Has anyone experienced it. Pls suggest any tips.

Thanks

[Jean Norton]

If you are in a position, and the deal works, you can pay the arrears and take over the property with what's called "subject-to", which means keeping the existing loan in place. There is a lot of debate on how whether that is really legal, but many banks prefer to be paid than not. You will need an attorney/title company that understands this concept, and you must offer full disclosure to the owner that you are taking title to his property, but the mortgage is still in his name. Get some help with this one.