Rookie Foreclosure Question

[Steve Trotta]

Hello - I have a question which I think is probably pretty basic to folks that are familiar with the foreclosure process.

Is it possible for the owner of a home to sell their house after they have been foreclosed on?  I feel like it isn't unless they work out some sort of a deal with the bank.  That said, I came across this situation recently where I was going to attend an auction to bid on a property and day of I called the attorney to make sure it was still on and the attorney said the auction was cancelled as the owner sold the property.  I'm not sure if this was just mis-information or if something else may have happened here?  

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank you,

Steve

[Steve Babiak]

You seem to have a misunderstanding of what "foreclosed on" means. A house is not "foreclosed on" until after it has gone through the public auction process; until then it is simply "in foreclosure" or "under foreclosure". So in the example you gave, the house had not yet been foreclosed on, so that owner could sell. 

Now, in places where there are redemption rights that exist after the public foreclosure auction, the owner could sell during the redemption period.