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General Discussion / Sheriff's Sale of Lands
« on: December 18, 2014, 09:49:49 PM »
I'm new to this site but not new to investing in real estate. I recently came across an add in my local paper stating "NOTICE OF SHERIFF'S SALE OF LANDS" and was very intrigued. A new money maker perhaps? I actually found this forum in my search for more information on the idea. I did as much research on the property as I could but stopped short of hiring a lawyer. I wasn't willing to fork over hundreds of dollars on an idea that nobody new anything about and that even the Superior Court of Justice who was holding the auction was not willing to explain. I was informed that they were unable to provide me with any information that wasn't in the add; which was nothing more then the legal description of the property and the date that some unfortunate person would make a potentially disastrous financial investment. I found very little information was offered and became frustrated with the lack of transparency. After all this is a public institution holding the auction not a private auction house. Most importantly I didn't get how the process worked and what you were actually bidding on as even after you "won" the auction you were still responsible for paying all the debt associated with the property.
I finally got a hold of a court enforcement officer of the court who was willing to talk about it because he also informed me at that time that the auction had been canceled and no he would not tell me why. He said "I can't talk about something that is going to happen but will talk about something that won't happen." Is there a class that they take to sound mysterious and misleading?
When I asked what I was bidding on he stated that I was bidding on creditors equity. HUH, I'm not bidding on the property? He would only answer direct questions and that last one stumped me so I came up with an example: A $400,000 dollar house(I assume the total value is taken from the mpac assessed value) with $200,000 dollars of outstanding debts(good luck finding out what the debts are before bidding) and I win the auction with a $100,000 bid.
He said I would be on the hook for $300,000 total (the $100,000 bid PLUS all the debts/taxes/liens/encumbrances) but then he added he wouldn't let that go through anyway stating "I can't just give things away".
Am I missing something here? Is this the Russian Roulette of real estate? Is anybody who is willing to go to these things and make bids willing to buy my sandy beach front resort on Baffin Island? Is that snow or is that sand, its hard to tell on google maps? Don't ask questions just provide me with a blank check and everything will be OK.
Any other experiences of someone who actually went to an sheriff auction or better yet someone who bought a property from the Casino?
I finally got a hold of a court enforcement officer of the court who was willing to talk about it because he also informed me at that time that the auction had been canceled and no he would not tell me why. He said "I can't talk about something that is going to happen but will talk about something that won't happen." Is there a class that they take to sound mysterious and misleading?
When I asked what I was bidding on he stated that I was bidding on creditors equity. HUH, I'm not bidding on the property? He would only answer direct questions and that last one stumped me so I came up with an example: A $400,000 dollar house(I assume the total value is taken from the mpac assessed value) with $200,000 dollars of outstanding debts(good luck finding out what the debts are before bidding) and I win the auction with a $100,000 bid.
He said I would be on the hook for $300,000 total (the $100,000 bid PLUS all the debts/taxes/liens/encumbrances) but then he added he wouldn't let that go through anyway stating "I can't just give things away".
Am I missing something here? Is this the Russian Roulette of real estate? Is anybody who is willing to go to these things and make bids willing to buy my sandy beach front resort on Baffin Island? Is that snow or is that sand, its hard to tell on google maps? Don't ask questions just provide me with a blank check and everything will be OK.
Any other experiences of someone who actually went to an sheriff auction or better yet someone who bought a property from the Casino?