Here’s why: “Servicers” are serruptisously recording “Trustee’s deed’s upon sale”, “assignments of deed” and even “Rescissions” that DECLARE certain parties where present at these “auctions” that allegedly took place.

If we were all just shootin’-the-"chocolate" this wouldn’t mean squat! But, these ya-hoo’s pencil whipping these documents are doing so “UNDER PENALY TO PERJURY” then filing them with a county Recorder.

Who needs a legal strategy if you got em’ on perjury and fraud.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTVo2RuiDF8

I’m as big of critic of banks as anyone, but even I don’t think that they stumble through daily activities without giving their actions any thought. Why wouldn’t they try to determine in advance what they’re likely to get from a piece of property and then bid accordingly? It’s not like bidding $400,000 on a property they know will likely only get them $300,000 is going to make it more likely they’ll get $400,000.

Banks make all sorts of earlier decisions based on what the property is likely worth. For example, they’ll start foreclosure or seek relief from a bankruptcy stay earlier if they think they are under-secured. It’s not like they suddenly only realize what their situation is when they actually bid in at a foreclosure sale and end up with the property. If there are any surprises at that point, they’re far more likely to be negative. That means in the example above, if they think the place is worth $300,000 they might be more likely to bid in $280,000 than $320,000.

This only seems logical to me with some of the majors reporting themselves “profitable” again. It may be opportune to clear out some of their overvalued assets right now, alongside rallying markets and happy financials.

I admit I’m terribly curious about this, and any other theories out there to explain it…

http://www.redfin.com/WA/Des-Moines/27419-8th-Ave-S-98198/home/345268

House looked a lot better when my wife I looked at it a few years ago. Now it goes for less green, but more green all around. LOL Bad driveway though–good if you have no visitors.

I’m surprised they haven’t done this sooner. If the lender KNOWS the property has declined in value, then why not try to sell it at the courthouse and save realtor/auctioneer costs?

Not to mention the costs of cleaning the property up, or the risk of discovering the property is worthless because of some tenant activity (e.g. meth lab). But again, I think they always have been doing this.

As to the bargain, the problem is foreclosures are risky. I’ve been told you cannot get title insurance on a foreclosure sale, and so you might have title issues. A good example of that was a short sale last year in my neighborhood where someone had a growing operation in the house and the sheriff had an abatement action pending. If someone had bought at foreclosure, the abatement action would not have gone away, and in theory they could have lost their entire investment.

Also, if you are going to buy at foreclosure it would be best to limit yourself to houses that are listed so you can go inside before bidding. Lots of these things are in really bad shape and/or filled with garbage.

First let me say that there are investors who have money in the properties. The bank services the debt.

In other parts of the country like Florida buyers at auction are bidding thirty cents on the dollar. The same happened in California.

Some properties in foreclosure are out in the middle of nowhere, newly constructed, with failing commercial districts. Those can probably handle the low offers. Properties that are a bit more viable could be held in a land trust or Real Estate Investment Trust.

A Real Estate portfolio is the same as any type of investment. Some properties are worth keeping. In other words some investors may be choosing to lose money on some foreclosures while reinvesting dollars into other more viable properties.

We have already seen a couple of posts here commenting on being worried about being outbid either now at an auction or in a couple of years. I believe one of the posts even mentioned that the opening bid / price was below the amount owed only to be bid higher.

I would bet this is an attempt to recreate some buzz and excitement that not only has the bottom hit but people are bidding prices back up. For a bank, this sort of marketing / adjustment to psychology is worth far more than the 25% discount they would stand to lose if the property sold at opening bid.