Foreclosure Auctions Not Always a Bargain

Posted in Foreclosure Auction, December 19th, 2007 |

To turn a foreclosure auction into gain one requires patience and nerves of steel. Recently a seminar was held at Hotel Huntington Beach on foreclosures. The speaker, Hannigan, was a lawyer from San Diego who claimed to have traded in 50 foreclosed properties in 25 years. It is these investments that have made him wealthy. But Hannigan stressed that anybody listening to him would be mistaken to think that the route to wealth via gambling in distressed sales is as easy as it sounds. The prerequisites to end up with a success story are determination and grit. An orator of sorts Hannigan kept his audience engrossed. He stressed that dabbling in foreclosure auction is not child’s play but is a full time serious job.

The investor must first plan what to do with property after having made a thorough search about liens and deeds. A cashier’s check must be ready in case the bidder turns out to be the winner. Then one must be prepared for a shock because properties are often yanked off the shelves at the eleventh hour for many reasons – the main one being an agreement between the lender and borrower. This is all part of the foreclosure game.

Having crossed this zone if finally the buyer does land up with the property then other problems might pop up – the occupants might have to be evicted and extensive repairs might derail the budget.
Hannigan attracted both seasoned investors as well as novices beginning to toy with the idea. Jerry Tagliaferri is new in the field having just recently got a real estate license. The falling real estate market edged him on to try his luck at foreclosed auctions. He has been regularly attending auctions but comments that most of the foreclosed houses hardly get any bidders. It then becomes REO or property of the lender. The few units that do have some equity left over and above the loaned amount are fiercely fought over. Tagliaferri was lucky to win a four-hour free discussion with Hannigan. The latter usually charges $250 by the hour while training.

Another listener was Jim Pollina who drove down from San Luis Obispo County to listen to Hannigan for the third time. He was amazed to note that many people slipped into foreclosure even when there was equity on the house. The point is to spot these goldmines.