BEST ANSWER
If you are looking to attend and bid at courthouse auctions in San Joaquin County you may be barking up the wrong tree. Randy is right, check the newspapers for legal notices. What you are looking for are trustee sales. The problem with these: you generally pay well-above market prices in this current climate. If you don't believe me research the Lexington Hotel of Stockton. I bought a property in Stockton last year. The property was offered on the courthouse steps in downtown Stockton just like the other trustee sales. Opening bid was 200 or 300k but I later bought the property for much less many months after the auction. At the auction, the trustees will try to recover all the money owed and, in most cases, the amount owed is way more than the current value. Additional challenges: large deposits are required to bid, cash funds are needed to buy at auction, ability to inspect properties can be very limited. Also, if you buy a house at auction you may have to deal with vagrants, vandalism, etc. If you buy a REO instead, the bank usually cleans the house out, lets you inspect it and keeps an eye on the place until closing. So in summary, if you want to save time and money look at REO's. Courthouse auctions are not a good idea in this market unless you have a lot of time and money on your hands and love to gamble. Good luck.
Thu Oct 8 2009, 16:15
Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity