Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2016 · 5 posts · 1 vote
Can a house by owned by the bank but still show to be under the former or previous owner's at the assessor's office? I found a house that is coming up for foreclosure, I looked up the owner's and found the names of the owners' but I also found out through another source that the house is owned by a bank and is up for sale. Is there a way to find out which bank owns it?
If it's "coming up for foreclosure" the owner still owns it, the bank wouldn't "own" it until after the foreclosure auction. If the foreclosure auction had already occurred,there could be a delay in getting the title transferred possibly. Sometimes auction.com will advertise a "REO" that hasn't made it to the foreclosure yet, subject to the bank getting it at foreclosure, but that's more rare.
First of all, yes that is possible, second of all it does not matter. It is quite possible that the bank has a deed signed over from the previous owners and they have not sent it in to the county yet. If the bank is selling it, find out what realtor that they use, and get on his/her mailing list. Also "coming up for foreclosure" is different from "the bank is selling", foreclosure is a legal process an usually includes an auction, where you could (theoretically) out bid the bank and they would never own it. If it is truly "up for foreclosure", you should contact the county sherrif (or whomever does the local foreclosure auctions) and see if this property is going up soon.
What you should keep in mind is that you should get title insurance. On a flip I did last year, the bank's closing agent told me that they title would be sent to me after they mailed it into the county, however they screwed that up, and after my flip, I found out the house was still in the OLD owners name.. the bank never sent in ANY of the paperwork... it took me some time and yelling to fix, but it was covered by the title insurance and did not effect my sale, but it was a headache that I did not need.
Thank you Wayne and Mark for your responses. I still don't know what's going on with the house. I inquired about the house through one of the websites and I had a company out of California calling me to try to connect me with a local agent for any questions or to schedule a viewing. I live really close to the house so I decided to drive by and have a look. I can tell people are still living at the house, just not sure if it's the actual owners or if it's being rented out. I'll try to contact the person they assigned to me today and see what she has to say. The person a briefly talked to about the house says it's up for sale for around 55 grand and the comps in the area are for around $110 so not sure if is the bank trying to sale it before it goes in foreclosure of if its the homeowner's. Hopefully I find out what's going on today. Thanks once again for your advice.
If people are living there before you go much further, find out what the laws in your state are about evicting people after a foreclosure. .. and when I say look into it... call a lawyer. IF the bank foreclosed, and can sell it to you, but there are people still there, you have a tough multi-month road ahead of you or you have to fill out a form in the sheriff's office... depending on your local laws... that is why it is well under comps (probably)
Well after talking to a realtor "incharged" of that listing I found out that the house wasn't an active listing. The lady said someone had made a mistake. I checked and yhe house was still scheduled to be auctioned out but the date had changed for the following month. I'll keep trying and see what happens. thank you all for your replies.