anyone have experience buying foreclosed properties at auction?

[Nikolai Skhirtladze]

Hello everyone.  I am a contractor in philly looking to expand my horizons.  I recently found my first investors and would like to know if anyone here has experience buying foreclosed properties here in Philly. 

[Jack Clough]

@Nikolai Skhirtladze

I have experience with the sheriff sale here in New Castle county DE. I've tried to be the buyer and it's basically a full time job. I went through the process a few times: narrow down the list, go visit the properties, peak in the windows (or walk in the door if possible), calculate the numbers, pay for a lien search, etc...

I narrowed it down usually to about 10 properties. The lien searches cost me approx $75 per property. I knew the max price I would pay for each property. I knew I did everything accurately when each of these properties ended up selling for 5-10k more than my max bid.

The banks buy back most of the properties where the amount owed on the property is higher than any investor is willing to pay (probably 60% of the properties are bank buyback). Another chunk of the properties the city is the plaintiff because the owner hasn't paid property taxes. If the liens plus the back taxes on these properties are less than what an investor is willing to pay then an investor will bid on it, otherwise the city will buy it back.

The remainder of the properties are bought by a handful of investors. So, it's competitive and difficult to buy one but not impossible. I've chosen to avoid the whole thing and just keep finding properties off market which I've had success doing thus far.