Its about that time...

[Ominous Gamer]

Went with my mom to the court house last week. She was curious how the legal end of her foreclosure worked, so when she got a notice about a hearing, we figured what the hell.

Judge asked us if we filed anything against the motion, and if we had any complaints against the filing. The answer was no for both answers, and he acted kind of surprised that we were there. He and my mom talked about the processes she went through trying to get refinancing and the cancers and death and put the whole thing into motion. Everyone in the room at the time (there were at least half a dozen cases that were being heard at about the same time) were supposed to have their homes auctioned off at the court house in midMay, but the judge pushed ours back until late June. The lawyers for the bank were phoning it in, and didn't a say a word about anything.

My mom's house is in rather nice condition and we ended up talking about perhaps looking into how we would go about buying a house from a courthouse auction. If a bank owns the mortgage, why would the house go to auction at the courthouse? Do they put it up and use whatever they get from the auction to cover the forclosure (I'm aware they can still come after the difference from my mom at a later time)? It almost sounds like a way to get the house back for dirt cheap.

[LittleFuzzy]

Went with my mom to the court house last week. She was curious how the legal end of her foreclosure worked, so when she got a notice about a hearing, we figured what the hell.

Judge asked us if we filed anything against the motion, and if we had any complaints against the filing. The answer was no to both answers, and he acted kind of surprised that we were there. He and my mom talked about the processes she went through trying to get refinancing and the cancers and death and put the whole thing into motion. Everyone in the room at the time (there were at least half a dozen cases that were being heard at about the same time) were supposed to have their homes auctioned off at the court house in midMay, but the judge pushed ours back until late June. The lawyers for the bank were phoning it in, and didn't a say a word about anything.

My mom's house is in rather nice condition and we ended up talking about perhaps looking into how we would go about buying a house from a courthouse auction. If a bank owns the mortgage, why would the house go to auction at the courthouse? Do they put it up and use whatever they get from the auction to cover the forclosure (I'm aware they can still come after the difference from my mom at a later time)? It almost sounds like a way to get the house back for dirt cheap.

It's nowhere near that easy and almost certainly completely beyond the means you guys would have available even if it was. The last time courthouse auctions came up on here I did some research and I bookmarked the following article, which seemed like a nice introduction. http://www.realtytrac.com/content/news-and-opinion/crapshoot-on-the-courthouse-steps-3986

[Ominous Gamer]

It's nowhere near that easy and almost certainly completely beyond the means you guys would have available even if it was. The last time courthouse auctions came up on here I did some research and I bookmarked the following article, which seemed like a nice introduction. http://www.realtytrac.com/content/news-and-opinion/crapshoot-on-the-courthouse-steps-3986

From what I understand there, the biggest problem is going to be what the bank allows as the starting bid. She owes like twice what the property is worth I have excellent credit and about 10 grand saved so far, and she still has most of her car winnings (which would cover the standard down payment for what the house is worth), but I'm curious how the process would be different securing a mortgage for an auction property. There is a second mortgage on the place, but its only a few grand, nothing I'm concerned getting saddled with (but I have heard horror stories of people buying only one of several mortgages on a property and ending up with nothing after the dust settles).
I've also told her that we need to do a couple of dry runs, only auctions I've been to involve paintings

Thanks for the link

[LittleFuzzy]

From what I understand there, the biggest problem is going to be what the bank allows as the starting bid. She owes like twice what the property is worth I have excellent credit and about 10 grand saved so far, and she still has most of her car winnings (which would cover the standard down payment for what the house is worth), but I'm curious how the process would be different securing a mortgage for an auction property. There is a second mortgage on the place, but its only a few grand, nothing I'm concerned getting saddled with (but I have heard horror stories of people buying only one of several mortgages on a property and ending up with nothing after the dust settles).
I've also told her that we need to do a couple of dry runs, only auctions I've been to involve paintings

Thanks for the link

I don't know how the rules work where you are but my *limited* understanding is that the requirement mentioned in the article, about full payment being expected up front, is pretty standard. And if your family could swing that then I doubt things would have reached the point of being foreclosed on in the first place.

[Ominous Gamer]

After numerous cancelled auctions and just as many official documents from the courts that arrived blank and lacking any and all dating, it appears my mom's house was finally auctioned off. At least according to the 2 people to arrived unannounced at my mom's door claiming they are the new owners. They agreed to give her a few weeks to clear out, so there goes all my free time.

[GGT]

OG, given the new billion dollar punitive fines for Banks on robo-signing and foreclosure fraud.....it sounds like you can delay those "new owners" from taking possession of the property. The courts are probably more inclined now to give your mom the benefit of the doubt.

That might mean she relinquishes her house after all, but won't have to pay any back-taxes, loan-servicing fees or "default" fines, or suffer a bad credit report.

[Ominous Gamer]

My mom is officially moved in, but we would make a pretty good pilot for a hoarders show at the moment. We didn't gut the old house, but I wasn't going to leave anything behind if I could help it. My yards look amazing now thanks to all her decorative bricks, pavers, and plants.

Now to spend the next several weeks properly absorbing her stuff into ours, and the attic, and the shed, and finally a yard sale.

Surprisingly her cats haven't been a problem. I've barely seen them these past couple of days. Dogs are a different matter, but so far I've blaming the boxes being everywhere for them being in the way.

One good thing about this is that my mom really wants FiOS, so I'm finally dropping BrightHouse/Time Warner and I'll be moving up to FiOS at 75/35 speeds. Netflix in all the rooms!