Incredible opportunity, or do I not understand what's happening?

[Andy Thompson]

I don't yet have the money/skill to pull this deal off. Still, I'm trying to observe what the market is doing. So through various web searches, I found a property that is going to be sold at foreclosure auction on Thursday, July 24. It seems like the sale price will be starting incredibly low for our area. The Bank has already submitted a bid for the amount due on the loan plus fees. I suspect that the Bank is simply trying to prevent the property being sold at less than owed, while adding the property to its own REO portfolio. There are other properties being foreclosed by the same bank for which the bank has not submitted bids in writing.

City: Denver
Original note info: $100k in 2003.  $40k outstanding.
Bank Bid: $43k ($2k deficiency)
Value (according to Zillow): $260k, seems appropriate for area.
1 bed/1 bath, 1100 sqft.

I understand that Zillow's estimates are not totally reliable, but even if it's 10% high, you're looking at a pretty good margin.

Am I about to watch this property get sold at an incredible discount? Should it be expected that this property will be shredded like chum by the sharks at auction?

What's going on here...and how do I become one of the sharks??!

[Wayne Brooks]

If your value is close,And the foreclosing bank is the 1st mtg (not a second) the property won't go for anything near the mtg balance.  If this were the case though, it likely would have already been bought by someone prior to the auction.  My guess is this is a second mtg being foreclosed on, which means there is a first mortgage staying with the property.  When looking at auctions, partial information can be dangerous.