Sheriff sale this Wednesday. Has anyone purchased?

[Rickey Lamb]

hello!

I'm attending my fist sheriff sale this Wednesday. So 2 days from now. 

The property list at 30k appraisal, and min bid of 20k. (In Ohio it's 2/3 the appraised value)

Iv done  a lot of research into this property. The loan was 55,300. In Jan 2007. I think he borrowed from it a year or so ago, as the records dep of the civil branch said the judgment was for around 51k. 

Has anyone ever went against a bank? Would my 20-25k bids possibly win? The 51k owed is a guess. The guy didn't know what he was looking at and once he found out I wasn't the guy, he stopped talking. 

The man didn't default cause he couldn't pay his bills, but he passes away last year. All 4 of his rentals are foreclosed on now. 

You wouldn't think they would bid up a property that need crazy amounts of work right? 

Thanks! 

Rick

[Rich Baer]

Rickey,

    You need to be careful in a Sheriff's sale. Unlike a foreclosure sale when the Bank is giving you a clean title, a Sheriff's sale is much different. Your purchase price goes to the Judgment Creditor. It is subject to any prior liens. You MUST have a title search done before you bid so you know what priority the liens are. For example, the house is worth $50,000. There is a first mortgage for $20,000 and the judgment for which they are doing the sale for is $15,000. You bid $15,000 at the sale. You have bought the property subject to the $20,000 mortgage which is now your debt. Basically you buy the property subject to what is in front of the judgment. In Maryland, they don't tell you any info at the Auction.

Rich Baer, Esq.