I can then go see it in person with a realor to determine I like it , then show up at the courthouse ( with realtor) to bid....

NO YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO PREVIEW THE PROPERTY JUST BECAUSE A FORECLOSURE NOTICE HAS BEEN FILED!!!

The person is losing their home to the bank and most likely very emotional.

Why would you bring a realtor the property is not listed and there is no commission that is going to be paid to them?

If you go to the property and politely ask the person losing their home, they might let you in to look around or they might take a swing at you, its a complete unknown. Bringing a realtor will most likely make them want to take a swing at you because most people look at realtors as being the cause of their problem for selling them an overpriced house.

The house will be auctioned at the courthouse at the date & time listed in the foreclosure notice.

Investors usually "bid blind" meaning that they have not seen the interior of the home.

It's a real bad business practice but its done that way because bankers and lawyers are in charge of the auction instead of a professional auctioneer.

Thank You ALL for your answers. Together, they gave me a clearer understanding of the process, and pitfalls.

So if I see a posting in Trulia or in the newspaper posting that is a preforeclosure, I can then go see it in person with a realor to determine I like it , then show up at the courthouse ( with realtor) to bid....At that point, am I technically buying it from the Bank or the Seller?

The listings you are seeing on Trulia are being picked up from the Realty Trac feed of posted auctions. Some homes are redeemed meaning the owners pay up or make arrangements with the bank to get it out of foreclosure, some sell at auction and dont get listed in mls and teh rest go through the auction, the bank buys them back and then the bank lists with local brokers to get it sold. I hope this helps.

100% of properties being foreclosed upon must pass through the public auction process.

99% of property "offered" at the public foreclosure auction goes back to the lender.

The biggest reason is because professional auctioneers are locked out of the foreclosure auction process, but that is another subject altogether.

Once the property is foreclosed by the lender, they must record the title, evict the old owners or tenants, then they "secure" the property, analyze it for 3 to 6 months, then "list" the property with a realtor at an unrealistic price.

Lenders are currently holding over 6-million foreclosed homes and only a fraction are on the market today.

After they have been with a realtor for six months with an unrealistic price tag, that the realtor usually advises AGAINST as being too high, but they take it for the listing anyways, the property goes to another realtor at a lower listing price and so on and so on for 2 to 3 years.

If nobody buys it then they will hire an auction company to sell it in 3 to 7 minutes for 100% of the present cash market value (what its really worth) on the date of the sale.

If you really want a foreclosure and have the cash available, go to the real auction on the courthouse steps

The foreclosure process doesn't follow any standard procedure as each situation is unique. The cycle usually has the owner trying to sell conventionally, then it going to a shoirt sale type, then preforeclosure then eventually to foreclosure. It's auctioned, often goes back to the lender and then the lender tries again to sell it - usually starting overpriced.

It's a long, twisted process that will wear out most folks!

Hank

It's really up for auction at the courthouse steps! It then gets spit back out onto our market 30 to 90 days later.

What you see as "foreclosures" with future dates is actually... *drum roll* PRE-FORECLOSURES!