Jennifer,
The property has to be advertised for 4 weeks in the newspaper then it will be sold on courthouse steps. Do all your research on the property at the courts house to make sure you find all the leins. Go knock on the door of the home owners and see if they will talk to you. There is a way that you could benefit them and get a good deal for yourself if they are will to work with you on selling it to you vs. ruining their credit. They have up to the day before the sale to wire the needed funds to the bank to keep it out of foreclosure. You could do a wrap around loan with them or offer them a small amount of cash ( $2000.00) and pick up their balance on the loan, keeping it in their name, doing a Subject To Sell. They sign a power of attorney at closing over to you and you have all info, from mortgage company sent to you. You become the new owner. If it is a great deal you will be bidding with other investors at the sell. You have to have a certified check from a bank. Not knowing what the final selling price will be you should take a couple of checks with you. Good Luck.

I felt like that might be the case, but I wasn't sure if banks would buy their own property back. It makes alot of sense.

Silly question, but when they say they want cash at the auction, that doesn't mean literally, I am supposed to tote $50k + in my purse, right? Maybe a certified letter from the bank?

Jennifer,

One reason she clammed up on you could be that in most cases the banks will buy the home off the courthouse steps so they don't have a complete loss!

When a homes sells on the steps it's usually to collect unpaid taxes etc. The bank would rather buy it and take ownership re-list the home so they can get some of their money.

She was gung ho until she found out her bank/employer did not want to lose this property to some investor. Your strategy from here should be get cash and go to the steps and outbid the bank or other investors. Or maybe wait and see if the property is re-listed.

I searched the legals online for our paper, and the ONLY public notice is the Notice of Sale. Someone told me that the owners still own it until the time of sale, since there is no prior foreclosure notice, and they still live there. If this is the case, will the attorney be able to help me?

Jennifer
Who advertised it for sale?
When is it suppose to go to foreclosure (the court house steps)?
If it has been listed as a foreclosure in the paper I would suggest that you contact the attorney office that is listed at the bottom and try and work a short sale thru them.