Hi. I recently won the auction.com auction for a property located in Vermont. Closing over the next few weeks. The property was once owned (obviously).... then successfully foreclosed upon by the mortgage company...and then that note was sold as a package to another round of investors, who listed it on auction.com as well as MLS. The realtor that is "working" for this last group of investors is my only point of contact, and the realtor is far from helpful. When I first inquired about the property he told me the bank has a budget to do a trash-out. And they were also in the process of evicting the former owner. I guess they had gone about it the wrong way the first time around, and were in the process of doing it correctly now. I bid on this house as-is, without having seen it.

Since then, I have been told by the realtor a series of confusing things.  Maybe confusing because this is my first time doing this kind of purchase, maybe intentionally confusing.  I have no idea.  At one point recently I was told that the Writ of Possession was available for pick up, and the realtor would hand-deliver it to the sheriff in this county, as well as the county in which the owner currently resides.  That would start the eviction process/clock.  

That story morphed the following week, and at this point I have no idea where we are with the eviction because the agent is no longer responding helpfully.  Other than telling me that the former owner (the person, not the bank) had not been served, yet.  They just want to close and get their commission.  

In the time between winning the bid and now, I was able to get a better visual of the property.  The house is a hoarder house.  A sort of "clean" hoarder house, but a hoarder house none-the-less.  Furniture and boxes piled up 4' high, narrow aisles through each of the rooms that you can walk through, just barely.  Filled to the max.  Dead mice in the bathtubs, mouse crap everywhere.  In fact, it sort of looks like a high-end antique store that was vandalized by an angry raccoon who liked decorating the piles with ladies shoes.  It is truly bizarre.   

The water is turned off, the heat is turned off, there is recent evidence of frozen pipes, (icicles from the ceiling) etc etc.  There is no way anyone is living in that house.  And in fact, due to the nature of the freezy VT climate, no indication that anyone has even walked down the driveway for months.  And a few weeks ago the realtor changed all the exterior locks so no one can get in.

My questions are:  If no one is living there, and the bank successfully foreclosed (therefore the bank is the former owner) and then the bank sold the note to another set of investors....and the realtor locked everyone out...   do I even need to pick up the eviction ball?  I will mention that the first order of business for me is completely demolishing the place and I would like to get going on that before the **** roaches emerge and the raccoons start decorating again.

@Jen Salemi   Sorry to hear on this.  You should speak to an attorney in the county where it's located (you didn't mention).  VT is an attorney closing state, so you should have an attorney anyway.  Good luck!

- Tom

if you have the proverbial pink slip, and you are not subject to any evictions, demolish away. Personally, i'd serve notice to any possible residents, of a pending unlawful detainer (or whatever its called in your jurisdiction) by an eviction attorney before doing anything but if you are sure its not occupied, and you have legal ownership, you should be able to do with it what you see fit. 

Yes, I am using a closing attorney.  She isn't involved in the eviction, as the investor's lawyers and the realtor were "handling it".  In fact, when I brought it up a month or so ago, she said her opinion was that there was no way the investors would close if the previous owner hadn't officially been evicted.

 If in fact, I do need to be concerned about this eviction process, I think our lawyer can't even get involved until after the closing (I can't evict anyone (if necessary) on a property that I don't officially own yet.)

My question is more about....is eviction even necessary?  No one living there.  Locks have been changed.  Mortgage company foreclosed successfully, sold note to another operation...and then I buy it.  The original owner is now twice removed.  Thoughts?

To Ron S.  I guess that is where I am getting confused.  What is the definition of "occupied".  No power, no water, locks changed, no evidence of anyone being there for months.  But the house is full of stuff.  

Originally posted by @Jen Salemi :

To Ron S.  I guess that is where I am getting confused.  What is the definition of "occupied".  No power, no water, locks changed, no evidence of anyone being there for months.  But the house is full of stuff.  

 if it were me....i'd consider it unoccupied based on what you wrote. I'd bring a camera, a backup and a locksmith if your state and/or local jurisdiction has no restrictions from you going and changing the locks and starting your clean-out.

Regarding the eviction...I've done hundreds of evictions but I've never done one for the benefit of the end buyer. Let the new owner evict. Saves the money and the litigation and the hassle.. That person's opinion that there was no way an investor would close if the previous owner hadn't been officially evicted is a huge leap of faith. If you haven't closed yet, you don't own it and can't evict. if the foreclosure has been completed, and the property sold to an investor, only the current and legal owner(the investor) can evict. 

Also, no one sold any note. If the mortgage company foreclosed successfully as you state, and it went REO into their inventory, they sold the home, not the note, to an investor. If the investor is selling the home to you, once you close, again, based on what you wrote, if i were you, i'd be changing the locks and hiring a clean-out crew (I'd be monitoring from behind the biggest guy in the group though...just in case).

Ron, thank you for taking the time to comment.  When my lawyer said that she doubted there would be a closing if the bank didn't successfully evict, I thought she was being a bit naive, but then again, I am cynical by nature.  I also forgot to mention, Auction.com listed this is "bank owned" and "owner occupied".  

I am confused for sure.  I think I am trying too hard to fill in the blanks.  The only thing I really know, for sure, is that Bank of America foreclosed successfully, but I was told an investment firm in Texas is actually selling the property.  My title search documents pass the ownership from the "original owner" to Bank of America, to me.  Nothing about this investor.  Maybe I am making too much out of it.  

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens after closing.  Seems weird to have to evict someone who isn't living on the property (and hasn't been at least for months).  Frankly, I would not have even thought twice about knocking the house down post-closing if it hadn't been the tremendous amount of STUFF in the house.  That gave me pause.  All of the google searching seemed relevant to what happens when you buy a foreclosed property that someone is living in.  And what to do with their stuff.  There seemed to be a gap when it came to properties that no one was living in, but there was a lot of stuff left behind.  

Originally posted by @Jen Salemi :

Ron, thank you for taking the time to comment.  When my lawyer said that she doubted there would be a closing if the bank didn't successfully evict, I thought she was being a bit naive, but then again, I am cynical by nature.  I also forgot to mention, Auction.com listed this is "bank owned" and "owner occupied".  

I am confused for sure.  I think I am trying too hard to fill in the blanks.  The only thing I really know, for sure, is that Bank of America foreclosed successfully, but I was told an investment firm in Texas is actually selling the property.  My title search documents pass the ownership from the "original owner" to Bank of America, to me.  Nothing about this investor.  Maybe I am making too much out of it.  

I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens after closing.  Seems weird to have to evict someone who isn't living on the property (and hasn't been at least for months).  Frankly, I would not have even thought twice about knocking the house down post-closing if it hadn't been the tremendous amount of STUFF in the house.  That gave me pause.  All of the google searching seemed relevant to what happens when you buy a foreclosed property that someone is living in.  And what to do with their stuff.  There seemed to be a gap when it came to properties that no one was living in, but there was a lot of stuff left behind.  

Sounds like we are both cynics. That's a good character trait in this business. Sadly, i don't think its an accident that there are gaps in the available information. It's by design. No one is gonna tell us how to do it right but will be the first one knocking on our door if we do it wrong. I think your approach is solid. Wait until closing. Knock on the door. Drill the locks out. Yell out loud for anyone to make themselves known. Inventory the property (At least take lots of pictures). If anything of material value, may want to (may be required) to store it for X amount of days (Whatever your local rules state for personal property). Once expired, dispose of it.

It is a 5,000 sqft house FILLED with furniture and other household items, tractors, cars etc.  Plus multiple barns filled with (likely) thousands of dollars of tack.  There is definitely stuff of material value.  In fact, it sounds like there is multiple houses worth of stuff IN IT, like they consolidated their furniture at one point as all of their other properties were going under foreclosure.  Very strange.  So, I guess if I have to store it, it will have to be done on site due to the expense of moving it out (was planning on a quick estate sale after the trashout...then the demo).  I'll look into the local rules for personal property.  Thank you for that.  

I feel like I am in a grey area. It is an REO property, you are correct. And when I google REO evictions, the results seem focused on tenants (like in a rental unit situation). This is not the case here. And REO property filled with stuff that belonged to the owner...who isn't living there (so didn't "graduate" to being a tenant by default). Anyone else have this kind of experience?

I have this experience all the time. I hire an eviction attorney. It's cheap money and security for what you get. He/She tells me what i need to do, when i need to do it, and how to do it to avoid any issues. Once the hold period expires (Assuming your jurisdiction has one), you are free to dispose of the personal property as you see fit.

@Jen Salemi I agree with Ron: wait for the transaction to close, take possession, and prepare to deal with the contents. It sounds like the house and its contents were abandoned so probably a low likelihood that anyone will complain about what you do. However, as a matter of general principle, it's better to take the extra step or two to do things right. Ask your attorney about the proper postings and notices that you have to make before getting rid of stuff. Each state has its own laws.

B of A is a huge bureaucratic mess and it's a miracle that they can get anything mildly complicated accomplished. Don't expect any help from them or the asset management company that's selling the property for them. Expect that things will get more confused and mucked up before you finally close. As long as you're buying at the right numbers and know that this is a deal for you, do what you have to do to get the transaction closed. Then, deal with everything else as the new owner.

Ahhh.  Asset Management Company for BoA.  That makes much more sense.  Ok.  Once I close I'll take the issue up with my lawyer and go through the legal steps of covering my bum.  Thank you everyone for your help.