About County Sheriff Sales and County Sheriff Auctions
Certain states across the country hold what is known as county sheriff sales or county sheriff auctions. At a sheriff sale you can usually get items that fall under one of three types.
1. Foreclosed Homes or real property.
2. Property seized from criminals or during a crime.
3. Surplus items from certain government agencies.
The second and third type items could consist of such things as TVs, automobiles, or other movable property. Generally, the property seized from criminals or during a crime may be in almost new condition, but could be really trashed also. The surplus items will usually be old or outdated stuff that is being sold at the sheriffs auctions due to turnover. You may find computers, office furniture, or maybe some police gear.
The most popular items sold at a sheriff auction or sheriff sale are the items from type one, foreclosed homes. Buying foreclosed homes at a county sheriff auction is very similar to buying at any other foreclosure sale with the difference being that certain states require that the county sheriff hold the auction rather than a state official.
Homes or properties sold at sheriffs auctions still cover the basic elements of a foreclosure:
-The homeowner doesn’t make their mortgage payments
-The bank takes the property
-The bank sues for the right to sell the property and recover its losses
-The house is auctioned off for the best price
The advantage of buying a home or property at a county sheriff sale is that you get the home at a reduced price. Usually, bids start at three fourths of the market value of a home so most generally you will get a good deal. Also, since many sheriff sales are well publicized by law you will have plenty of time to research the property you are interested in buying at any particular sheriffs sales.
The disadvantages of buying at a sheriffs sale or sheriffs auction include access to the property. You become the legal owner of a property when you sign the deed. Signing the deed though doesn’t mean that somebody living in the home has left. If this is the case the people living inside the home are there illegally and you may have to take legal action to remove them. Usually the sheriff that is holding the sale can help you with that. Another disadvantage is if you plan on getting a mortgage on the property most lenders will not approve a loan without an inspection. Since you are not the owner until you sign the deed you do not have the right to access the property and the lender will most likely disapprove the loan.
Another disadvantage of buying property at a sheriffs sale is since the lender who held the previous mortgage has an interest in the property they will send a representative to the auction to bid the minimum bid so it doesn’t sell too low. The lender knows the value of the property and will be in competition with bidders to purchase the property so they can sell it through a real estate agent. Also not all liens on the property may be vanquished when it is sold. This differs from place to place and also depends on the type of lien.
I hope that you have learned a little about obtaining properties at a county sheriff sale or sheriff auction and are ready to jump into it. I have provided a search engine at the bottom of this page for you to search from state to state or county. Just type into the box where you would like to begin. If you prefer to just click on the state you can use the links on the right sidebar instead. Please bookmark this site or subscribe to the RSS feeds as we will be updating it frequently.
