Not sure this will help..

House up the street from me, sheriff's sale ($145 approx) about a month ago. Property also listed with an agent for $160's. No one bought the house so it sits. I'm signed up to get email updates from the agent selling it, he's down to $149k.. don't know how much lower he can go.

From what I've read here, you'll need cash at the sale. Do a search, Tricia has posted a lot of information about this subject. You should be able to figure out what you're asking if I remember her posts correctly.

Good luck

Thank you roselvr. I'll do a search. It's strange since I'm the one forcing the sale. I have a call in to the sheriff's dept too - the person I need is out for the holiday too!

"Let's say I have a judgment of $200,000. I have a 2nd lien on the property behind a bank. There is probably a balance due of less than $30K on the original loan."

You are using poor language to describe the situation.
What is the "original loan"?
First or second?
How did you get a judgment that is forcing the sale?
Is this a foreclosure or not?

As a second loan holder if the first forecloses you will receive NOTHING.
Normally the second note holder remedies the shortfall in the first to prevent loosing everything.

If your attorney is not available hire another.
NOW.
You can also file a formal complaint against the attorney.

The way it was explained to me by a bank rep I questioned who forced a sale on the homes I bought at Sheriff's sale was this:

The homes are appraised by an appraiser at their current market value, regardless of how much or little they have against them in the way of liens. Then the house is not sold unless somebody purchases them for at least 2/3 of that price. I was told that they seldom go for less than the balance of the mortgage because the banks would protect their own interests and a bank rep will be there to "buy it back" before it goes for any less than that. When the bidding gets to the point it satisfies the mortgage debts, then the bank rep lets nature take its course and the house goes to the highest bidder.

I asked the bank officer what happens if I pay more than what is owed against one of those houses? He said that happens sometimes, and after the initial debt is payed by the sale(that debt usually being on the mortgage itself and it's usually the lender who forces the sell), the rest of the money goes to fulfill any secondary liens. If there is still money left over, then it's actually returned to the previous owner.

I suppose if you were the one forcing foreclosure you would be the primary beneficiary of the funds, but only after SOMEBODY pays off the remainder of the loan to the mortgager. This is all totally heresay and assumptions on my part. If your money is at stake, I'd really, really want to hear where you stand from an attorney.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, brickeye. I am not a lender.

"What is the "original loan"?" It's what the owner borrowed to buy the property. I am not a bank & don't have anything to do with the loan.

"First or second?" The Bank has the first & only loan on the property & they have 1st lien. I placed a lien on that property when I was awarded a legal judgment against that person & was unable to collect any other way .

"How did you get a judgment that is forcing the sale?" It was a legal issue and I have the judgment that led to placing liens on several properties because they will not pay. This is the first I've executed on so the process is brand new to me.

"Is this a foreclosure or not?" No the Bank is not forclosing - payments are current. I have executed my judgment forcing the sale of the property.

My lawyer is great & highly regarded in the community - she got us this great judgment in the first place. I do not question her knowledge or abilities. She took Thanksgiving week off - no big deal to me. Sale is in December & I have plenty of time to get this information from her, but as I stated i was trying to familiarize myself with the process first so I posted here to see if anyone had had a simliar experience. Yes, I plan to consult her about this.

Thank you calliope. That's what I've heard too. I'm hoping that's the case. Actually I'm hoping the bid starts at $1.00, no one shows up & I get it. Or maybe I heavily advertise, get tons of people to show up to get the price up & get the cash left over after the bank is paid.

Dreaming is what, I believe, they call that...!

"but only after SOMEBODY pays off the remainder of the loan to the mortgager"

Just as a matter of information, the party that holds the mortgage is the "mortgagee," not the "mortgager."

The party who takes out the mortgage (borrows money on the property" is the "mortgagor."

To answer some of caulk king's questions:

1. The country usually requires all potential bidders to bring a certified check for a predetermined amount --$5000.00 say. This will be the opening bid.

2. As the first lien holder, the bank will be paid first out of the proceeds after any outstanding costs, property taxes, ans assessments are paid off. The bank is likely to be a bidder in order to protect its own interest but it's unlikely to bid more than whatever is needed to satisfy its lien because it doesn't particularly want to own the property. It would prefer to be outbid by someone else. That way, it gets everything that's owed to it, but doesn't have the hassle of owning the property.

3. You don't want the bank (or any other party) to buy the property for just enough to make the bank whole because you will lose your lien on the property without getting any proceeds from the auction. Of course you can, and should, bid to protect your own interest. Don't forget that if you wind up winning the property, you'll have to satisfy the costs and taxes, as well as the bank's lien and those will be out-of-pocket costs for you.

As far as satisfying your own lien, I don't know. Maybe someone else does?

4. Yes, anything beyond the taxes, costs and bank lien. But that could be almost nothing if the bidding doesn't go much beyond 30K.

5. Very unlikely since there are at least tow lien-holders. There may well be more and you should check this.

You should have a rough idea of what the property would fetch if you become the owner and want to resell it. Hopefully, that's at least enough to satisfy all the outstanding liens and other items mentioned above, as
well as the costs of reselling it and holding it until it's sold.

And don't forget to regard all the info you get from this site as worth exactly what you paid for it.

The exact procedures for forcing a sale by a lien holder vary state by state.
In some places there are even redemption periods available after the auction has closed.
Make a list of questions up for your lawyer and go over them,

I don't intend to change my profession into banking or law so doubt if having it pointed out to me is going to be life changing necessity. I looked at the word mortgagor after I keyed it in, and it looked just like a totally stupid word. English is like that sometimes the more you look at a word,so I changed it. I'm sure you're correct, but I also assume you knew what I meant. YOu also just pretty much repeated everything I already said.

Sorry for the late reply to thank you for your post, feedingfrenzy. We were away for Thanksgiving at the in-laws with only dial-up so I didn't venture onto the web.

Re: # 5 - don't know what a tow lien-holder is. That will be my next google search! I wouldn't mind having the property especially if I can get it for the 30K or so but I'm hoping that someone REALLY wants it & that I come way with some cash.

The strange thing is a couple of people have called us & left messages at home regarding the property. My name is listed in sale notice, but I think it's wierd. I'm not calling them back, of course, but I'm wondering what that's about. Maybe the owner is trying to dig up some info or something. I don't know why people would call us for information on the property - it's not ours.

brickeyee - yep, have a meeting scheduled this week.

Callipope - I knew what you meant ; ). I agree, Mortgagor is one strange looking word. It sounds like something that would battle Mothra.

Thank you all for the information - I feel a bit better prepared. It should be interesting.

caulk king: "It sounds like something that would battle Mothra."

Aaahh, Godzilla vs. Mothra! A classic! A giant lizard, a giant moth, and two adorable twin Japanese fairy girls who sing. It doesn't get any better than that!

In my state it is illegal for the current owner or any party representing the current owner to bid at a sheriffs sale. The reasoning is that you had your chance to pay it off before it went to sale.

That makes sense lazypup - I'll check to see what the laws on that are here. I can't think of any other reason for people to contact me directly prior to this sale. Can you? Unless they want to buy it from me after the fact. But why wouldn't they just bid on it? Maybe they're just curious.

Bethesdamm - I haven't seen that movie in years, but for some reason the word mortgagor reminded me of it - no idea why.........

Sorry, caulk_king. I meant "two," not "tow."

"Mortgagor" is indeed a strange word and means just the opposite of what most people think. That's why you too often see the bank, instead of the borrower, called the "mortgagor" or even "mortgager."

I pointed this out so that people will know the correct terms and use them properly, and also so that they aren't confused when they see them used.

Even better would be to use plain English terms that everyone understands, like "borrower" and "lender," or "homeowner" and "mortgage holder." That way, nobody's confused.

Very very long story short: We executed on a judgment owned to us (current resident didn't have any mortgage). Day before sale, resident filed for bankruptcy to stop sale. Went to court, judge ordered to sheriff sale. We bought it for $1,600. Resident still in house almost a year later....we are paying the taxes and insurance.....he keeps filing suit....go figure....just had another hearing, judge considering whether to reverse this original sale order....

WOW rosie_2006 that really bites. This property is vacant - we waited until it was empty to execute so we wouldn't have any problems there. I think the owner would have filed for bankruptcy long ago if they could have. They owned several properties prior to our judgment & sold some of them before our court date. The rest we have liens on. I can't see why you're having so much trouble unless the property was homesteaded.

Sure seems like the legal system is set up to protect the "bad guy". It's a shame you can win every battle but lose the war. We had no idea that you couldn't make someone pay a judgment.

Good luck.

Brickeyee - the second my spouse read that post (tow vs two) I got a slap in the head because she said it was OBVIOUS what you meant. Hey, I just thought it was another legal term that I was unfamilar with.

Caulk King, be very careful re your judgment. Our guy owes us quite a bit....we purchased house for $1,600. Guy still owes us a ton...our judgment was worded that if judgment is more than house, he still owes us...anything he purchases in the future we can take (or file papers to take) until entire debt is repaid.

rosie_2006 - Ours is the same, we can just keep executing on properties until our judgment is satisfied. This is our trial run.

Well - we went, but the Bank didn't! We got the high bid @ $10,000. That comes off our judgment figure. There has been some confusion about what happens to the Bank lien. A realtor who happened to be at the sale says we don't have to pay it since they didn't show up to protect their lien, but our attorney says the 1st lien is there no matter what & we gotta pay. Can't anything just be EASY anymore??!!??

There were only 2 properties for sale so it wasn't very crowded. Just civil cases - no tax properties. Apparently our County doesn't do tax foreclosures in December. I can appreciate that.

Happy Holidays to all of you and thanks so much for your input. Your opinions are greatly appreciated!