Courthouse Auction "Amount to be raised"

[Michael Seeker]

I started looking at the upcoming courthouse auctions in my area. I've never been to or looked at these before, but I'm intrigued by the possibilities.

All of these listings have an "Amount to be raised" listed. I am wondering if anybody knows if this is usually the starting bid amount or what they're hoping to get for the place? Pretty much all of the amounts are at or above market value assuming the property is in good condition (which isn't usually the case). In one case, the appraisal attached to the listing is about 10% lower than the "amount to be raised"

Thoughts?

Here's a link: http://www.jcomm.org/content.asp?page_id=9

[Dion DePaoli]

That is the legal balance of the foreclosure suit. The actual winning bid may be different from that number. When a lender sends the asset to sale they deliver a bid to the court which is the minimum they are willing to take on the property. They can receive up to their full legal balance if the auction merits such. In some counties and states minimum foreclosure bids are directed by local law which can be at the least x% of the legal balance. This is problematic for areas where asset values have dropped significantly and legal balances are still high. It prevents many assets from actually selling at auction. For instance legal balance is $200k and property value is $50k a bank might be forced to bid 30% of the $200k or $60k which is not a bid that would be delivered at auction by a buyer so the property reverts back to the bank.