I am a new residential foreclosure investor, along with my brother and father. We stay away from the property tax auctions for now. We have pulled our money together and go to the county court house the first Tuesday of every month to try to pick up one, or maybe two investment properties up at the auction. We live in Houston, Texas, and Harris County is the actual “region” where the auction is dealing with. We went and watched the first few months, but we have some questions that we can’t seem to get answered. For our Harris County auction, there are at least 15 auctioneers in the early session, and at least 6 in the late session. Each trustee has hundreds of properties to read. No matter how much we filter our list of “good” properties down to, there is no possible way that we could ever get close to actually driving to the properties to put our eyes on them, and give them a good and respectable evaluation. Not to mention do all the necessary title work. In Texas all properties that are going to be up for auction must be filed by the 19th of that month. Once we narrow our properties down to the ones we really hope to get, it never fails that none of them ever get auctioned off. We have found out that properties can be “pulled” after they get on the list due to their debt being settled. We don’t know why the list is never updated from any of the foreclosure databases when a property has been “pulled” and will not be auctioned off that month after the 19th. The first and only property that came up, and we won the bid for, was pulled after the trustee made a final call to check on it’s status. Our first question is where we can find a real time, up to date, listing of properties that will no longer be auctioned that month or which have been “pulled” for some reason. It seems there should be databases out there that do this, and would help us greatly to narrow down the number of houses we actually have to research on since they will not even be auctioned off. Or is it legal, and/or appropriate to approach the banks themselves with numerous cases to inquire about, and who would we contact to expedite that process. Or what multiple methods and people to talk to that would solve our problem. We also use Google maps to do some preliminary visual evaluation of properties, but we have come to find out that the images are outdated, addresses are wrong, and just not high enough quality to be a dependable research tool. Is there any other visual mapping service or software that is updated, correct and high resolution enough for us to risk our hard earned money? Any thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated and many thanks in advance.
Try calling the foreclosing attorny the day before the scheduled sale date. Ask if the sale has been adjourned and if not then ask for the opening bid amount.
Its very unlikely there is a list of properties that are actually going to sale, because adjournments and cancelations are normal. So put that idea right out of your mind.
Some of what you posted makes me wonder how you decide which properties to investigate. You should be able to handle one county with ease.
When you have your “master” list on the 19th, how do you decide which ones to investigate ?
[QUOTE=AmotoXracer;884931]Try calling the foreclosing attorny the day before the scheduled sale date. Ask if the sale has been adjourned and if not then ask for the opening bid amount.
Its very unlikely there is a list of properties that are actually going to sale, because adjournments and cancelations are normal. So put that idea right out of your mind.
Some of what you posted makes me wonder how you decide which properties to investigate. You should be able to handle one county with ease.
When you have your “master” list on the 19th, how do you decide which ones to investigate ?[/QUOTE]
Some good suggestions and/or questions.
ShooterD,
The trouble you are having is likely to be similar for other investors. Speak with them to see what they do and if they have a better way. At the same time expect that if it was easy you would be bidding against more people. The ‘hassle’ might be one way to cut down on what you pay as there will be fewer bidders.
There is no substitute for hard work. When my husband and I are actively going to foreclosure auctions, we will drive by and research anywhere between 60 and 100 properties per week. You have to be really organized and willing to put in some long days.
–Natalie
How to know is most frustrating!
Having bought a number of Dallas-Ft Worth area props @ county tax sales I sure know how frustrating it is to know which props will actually still be on auction list and actually auctioned on morning of the auction.
Last one I attended in Tarrant County, only 3 or 4 props actually sold out of list 2 weeks before of 50+