Hi Nick, I've got to say without a doubt you were at the same auctions I've been going to on and off for years (more off than on, usually when I'm looking which I'm not right now, I'll simply check the Daily Reporter listings for the RARE higher $$ one and then see if its one of the minute % of them that have bids even worth bidding on and IF that all goes through, THEN I'd go but I've never found the least bit of "fun" or "excitement" there, it is boring as hell!) Yep, the attorneys who you know REALLY want to be someplace else (except for the guy from Gray and Assoc who does the most biz there, he seems to enjoy it and why I have no clue!) the "regulars" who have their turf battles (or hmmm, ya think anyone might ever cut any backroom deals on who goes after what? hmmmmm!) and this is all after the departure of the "Foreclosure King" which was covered or way over covered by the local, totally unbiased (HAHAHA! JUST KIDDING!) paper, The Milwaukee Urinal, who even posted video of the guy being picked up without incident at his home by the Waukesha Cty sheriffs after he was charged federally. (full disclosure-I knew the guy, or know him, he's not dead just gone from the auctions and haven't talked to him in a few years, but he was always nice to me and I don't have a clue as to the validity of the federal charges against him, but he always treated me decently and I've got nothing bad to say about him and I know other landlords who've been demonized and slurred as slumlords when I think they simply bit off more than they can chew, while other real slumlords seem to operate for years, as long as they don't get too big) He used to kind of dominate those auctions and maybe that was a good thing, as I'm sure there's a whole cast of characters who've filed that void.
Thing is, ANY property under $100k, maybe even under $150k or $200k will certainly have multiple bidders, there are a LOT of people like me when I'm looking, who have the subscription to the sheriff's sales info reports from the Daily Reporter ($600/year and you get the results emailed to you in an Excel spreadsheet on Tues, next weeks auctions emailed on Thurs) and another good indicator is I'm on an email list for one of the firms (actually out of Chicago) which handles a tiny, tiny fraction of the cases and I've looked at the "cc list" or whatever you'd call it if ALL the addresses that email is sent to and there are HUNDREDS of them on there and this is for I think Johnson Blumberg, who many weeks don't even have any cases in MKE or Waukesha Cty. That's why I'd rather focus just on the very few high $$ properties each year, rather than battle it out with the "regulars"on lower priced stuff, I think you're often better off looking at the other methods of finding them, OR maybe putting some effort into it but its no easy game there at all.
Lastly, if you want to hear a TRUE story of FAILURE at the auction, here's one that happened to ME! I'd not been there for several months as is often the case and didn't know it but they'd instituted a new policy where buyers need to show an official ID when going up to pay after winning that bid, this due to the goofs who were wholesaling or whatever and would put their 10% down and then use whatever name, so they could then simply call their buyers and find whoever wanted to buy it and then that person would show up for the confirmation hearing and pay the balance. Well, 99.9999% of the time I've got my license in my wallet but for whatever reason I'd left it in my car! This was on the last lower priced one I'd gone after, which at the time seemed like I got a deal, even though I had to outbid at first maybe 5 bidders and finally one who ran it up a good 20 grand or so. It was a multi-unit north of Brady St, which for just under $100k would normally be a steal, especially from the info on the I think four units that I had, but am now glad I didn't have my DL, as I'll finish explaining.
So, I asked if they could wait as I'd parked in the garage and I'd run and grab it as I was sure it must be in the center console or on the seat or something and run right back. She said "I'll give you 5 minutes, then we've got to redo the sale" so I SPRINTED (getting yelled at by the sheriffs at the metal detectors) to my car and frantically looked EVERYWHERE AND NO LICENSE!!! Finally, knowing my 5 min was long gone, I just hung my head in disgrace, too embarrassed to even go back in and figuring they redid the sale by now anyway and I left! The guy who bid me up big time at the end ended up getting it, but paid nearly as much as I was paying, as another earlier bidder stuck in and bid him up this time!
Fast forward to maybe 2 to 3 months later and a mutual 3rd party friend who knew both me or my brother and the guy who got the place contacted one of us, not saying why this was but that we could have it for what he paid PLUS 5 grand, which quickly turned into just what he paid and I got the feeling this price was dropping like a rock! I later heard but never exactly why, that the place was an absolute money pit and the buyer, who was very experienced, regretted buying it big time.
It is interesting, but I ALWAYS do at least a bit of research on the prior owners and have found few "hard luck" stories, at least as far as either higher or high priced single fams go, they're by far the same story where the owner makes the financial decision to walk away, mainly due to the insane HELOC's etc they were giving out, like 125% of home's current value back in like 2006, so now they'll owe literally like $750k on a home that IF in great shape would at best fetch $500k, PLUS they trashed or semi-trashed the place, so they'd be really lucky to get $400k as is and often they may be business owners or whatever and have a relationship with a local bank who will then know "the whole story" behind the big hit they take to their credit score and not treat it nearly as harshly as the average Joe, who's practically banned from even entering the bank for years!
With investment properties, any kind of rentals, I often see the story where the owner walks away due to some major repair issue, like a caving in basement or maybe a string of awful tenants drove them away, but in either case, its NOT AT ALL because there's no way they can continue to pay the mortgage payments, its a financial decision and many times may be the best one they have available at the time!
