Upset Price vs. Debt Amount - What Ratio to target?
Please bear with me on my first post on here. I attended my third sheriff sale here in Chester County, PA today. I have a few questions that I still have not figured out after reading 4 books, reading this forum, and attending those sales. I would appreciate any guidance anyone can provide.
1) Does the upset price represent the total debt + fees from all mortgages on a property or is it just the debt + fees on the foreclosing mortgage only?
2) How to guestimate/anticipate which properties will have low upset prices vs. total debt?
3) When doing your research before the sale, what kind of debt to home value are you looking for that generally equates to the best opportunity for buying at the sheriff sale?
4) I had targeted 5 properties, done my title research on those 5, and then called the lender's attorney the day before to get the upset price. I was only able to obtain 3 upset prices - the other 2 would not give them over the phone. So if you are unable to establish the upset price the only recourse seems to be to bring a large cashier's check and hope that the upset bid is low enough to work. Are there any other options to establish where the opening bid will be set on a property? For example do some banks generally price their properties more aggressively than others? Any patterns?
5) Can anyone share an MS Excel file structure/layout that they use to evaluate properties and bring to the sale for quick reference? What columns do you have on there so when you hear the upset bid and it is surprisingly low - you have all the data needed to quickly evaluate and have confidence to bid aggressively?
Thanks very much for any help you can provide.
Ben
West Chester, PA