The surprise news story of the housing bubble has been the resurgence of squatting. Banks allow it, so people begin to take advantage.
Irvine Home Address … 46 WHEELER Irvine, CA 92620
Resale Home Price …… $499,000
The way you hold your knife (do-do-do-do do-do).
The way we danced until three.
The way you've changed my life.
No, no – they can't take that away from me.
No, they can't take that away from me.
Frank Sinatra & Natalie Cole — They Can't Take That Away From Me
I recently wrote that squatting is becoming a way of life for many delinquent borrowers.
Of course, this doesn't meet the technical definition of squatting which is possession of real estate without the owner's permission. In this instance, the squatters are technically still the owners of property, so there is nothing illegal going on, but these owners are generally hopelessly underwater and failing to make their mortgage payments. They are in possession of real estate that can be called to auction at the discretion of their lender at any time. Ultimately, they will lose their homes.
Today, we are going to look at other forms of squatting from the traditional adverse possession to the return of former owners who couldn't leave their entitlements behind.
Squatters moving into upscale neighborhoods
With thousands of mansions vacant, some see easy pickings
By Bill Briggs
msnbc.com contributor
updated 9/23/2010
On the big screen, actor Randy Quaid may be best known for his mooching, move-in-and-never-leave character “Cousin Eddie” from National Lampoon's "Vacation” films. Last weekend, he allegedly followed his own Hollywood script.
Quaid and his wife, Evi, were arrested Saturday after they were found living in a guest house on a million-dollar, Montecito, Calif., property Quaid once owned. While Quaid claims his name remains on the deed, the actor and his wife were jailed until they were able to post $10,000 bail.
For those of you who don't read the gossip on TMZ, here is a recap of this bizarre story:
Randy Quaid and Wife Arrested for Burglary
The Quaids — Fifty Percent Punished
Randy & Evi Quaid — Pretty in Pink Handcuffs
Quaids Show Up to Court, Plead Not Guilty
Quaid is hardly alone in his distinctly post-bubble legal trouble. Such high-end "mansion squatting" has becoming an increasingly visible irritant in or near Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles and probably elsewhere, industry experts say.
And the trend appears to be growing, as the housing bust means thousands of mansions around the country are languishing on the market, often under the control of banks that have foreclosed on them.
“It’s immoral but I do understand, logically, how people get this idea in their heads,” said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, a former Bay Area broker agent and now a consumer educator for the real estate website Trulia.com. “I also think this happens a lot more than we know.”
Yes, it is very easy to understand how this idea gets into everyone's mind: it's because they all see their neighbors doing it. Ask yourself, in your circle of friends and acquaintances, how many people do you know that are not paying a mortgage and living in a property that has no equity? How is that different from squatting? It is because their name is on title? What is title without equity? A lease… except that even a lease requires payment.
Luxury homes that are for sale or foreclosed are often unoccupied and under the care of asset managers who typically may be responsible for a lengthy list of idle properties. Many mansions are isolated, walled, cloaked by trees or otherwise hard for passersby to see.
“Squatters realize these places may not get showing for months at a time,” said Nelson. “That’s what makes these properties more of a target.”
Better the squatter you know than the one you don't? That seems to be the reasoning of banks these days.
Before the recession, squatters were known to slip into average- or bargain-priced homes for short, secret stays. In Oakland, Nelson recalls escorting clients to available, empty properties during which “you walk in and there’s like a shaving kit and mattress on the floor, and you go in the next room and find somebody there.
“Traditionally, this has been something you see more in low-end neighborhoods where there are more people around, where more people need a place, and perhaps where police have higher priorities than checking on a pushed-in door or broken window," said Nelson, who has written about the trend for WalletPop.com, a personal finance news site.
The sad truth is that squatters like that often live in squalor and are frequently the victims of crime.
But squatters have moved into nicer neighborhoods now. Realtor Adam Kruse discovered last February that his company-hired house cleaner was living it up – and sleeping over – at a $2 million, 10,000-square-foot home he had listed in St. Louis. The mansion, owned by an out-of-town seller, was nestled near a golf course and boasted large swaths of open space, a media room and “a gorgeous kitchen (with) really just bedrooms, bathrooms galore,” said Kruse, who works with the Hermann London Group.
I guess local realtors aren't the only ones stuck on the word "gorgeous."
You have to admire a squatter who has the nerve to squat in a multi-million dollar mansion.
After tidying up the place, the house cleaner “started having friends over, too, and drinking and partying and staying there … for days at a time,” Kruse said. The squatting went on for about three months until the cleaner – or one of her “guests” – accidently got locked out.
“We found a broken window by the front door and are to believe that at some point the squatters … needed to break in to get back in,” Kruse said. “We just saw party scenes – remnants that looked very similar to beer pong games.”
The cleaner was fired and no criminal charges were brought against her. The house is no longer on the market.
Upscale squatters have been nabbed in at least three other cities:
- In Sugar Grove, Ill., a suburb west of Chicago, cops arrested 42-year-old Steven Hawthorne in April 2009 after he moved his furniture and big-screen TV into a vacant, $700,000 foreclosed home. He introduced himself to neighbors as the new owner and stayed for about eight months. Hawthorne, who also managed to have the power, gas and water turned on at the dwelling, was eventually charged by authorities with two felonies, including theft of government property (the utilities).
- In Malibu, Calif., Wells Fargo executive Cheronda Guyton occasionally occupied a $14.9 million beach house to host swanky social gatherings, according to newspaper reports. One catch: the property’s former owners had lost the home to foreclosure after they were victimized by Bernie Madoff – and the estate was claimed by their bank – that’s right, Wells Fargo. When residents within the gated community glimpsed the parties, they got Guyton’s name from security guards and turned her in. Wells Fargo fired Guyton in September 2009.
- In the Seattle suburbs, a small group – nicknamed the “Mansion Squatters” – has taken a more creative approach. In June, one of its members, Jill E. Lane, 30, moved into a foreclosed and vacant 8,000-square-foot-home in Kirkland, Wash. valued at $3.3 million. She posted a note on the front door that read: “Privately owned property. Not for sale."
The home takeover attempt also involved James McClung, a former real-estate agent and owner of a business called NW Note Elimination. He reportedly runs that business with Lane. Police soon arrested Lane on a criminal trespass charge.
Lane told the Seattle Times that her squatting was part of a protest movement: “Banks do whatever they want and nobody holds them accountable. It makes me ill to see what the banks are doing. They aren't using their bailout money to help anyone. So I'm standing up for the people who are being brutalized by banks every day."
Ordinarily, I would cheer her on for having such a great attitude. Unfortunately, everything she said is complete and utter bullshit.
In August, McLung apparently tried to stake claims to three more Seattle-area mansions, including a $2.2 million home in Bellevue. He posted similar notes on the doors of all three homes, according to the Seattle Times. Mark von der Burg, real estate agent for both the $3.3 million Kirkland property and for the Bellevue luxury home, did not return several phone messages seeking an interview.
I'll bet he didn't return the phone call. What would he say? He was either complicit in the scheme, or so totally disengaged from his job that he should hide his face in shame.
According to media reports, Lane’s short stay in Kirkland cost von der Burg’s client, a bank, $35,000 in legal fees and locksmith bills as well as increased security and cleaning.
Nelson said the targeted homes in the Seattle area were all owned by failed banks.
The squatters apparently believe "they’re going to come into this gap between ownerships and somehow trick someone into believing they now own this place for real — which is absurd," Nelson said. "Even if the (original) bank fails, somebody owns those assets.”
In St. Louis, Kruse can see why desperate people in some cities are making a bid for a taste of the good life – albeit a temporary one.
“People are seeing all the negative news (about the housing market) and just deciding to be more gutsy and stay in riskier places,” Kruse said. “With all the vacant homes, (they figure) their chances aren’t that bad.”
Isn't squatting just another manifestation of entitlement? The people living in houses they are not paying for are doing so because they believe life owes them something. It doesn't matter to these people that others who actually pay their bills live with less as long as they get what they deserve. The housing bubble has changed both the rich and famous and the ordinary and anonymous and made them into something less.
Squatting among the not so rich and famous
Thanks to the IHB, Irvine has become known as a HELOC abuser's and squatter's paradise. The residents here are generally not as well known, but their ongoing occupation of property they do not own and do not pay for is just as infamous. The owner of today's featured property got a great free ride.
- This property was purchased on 8/21/1998 for $341,000. The owners used a $272,800 first mortgage, a $34,100 second mortgage, and a $34,100 down payment.
- On 3/4/2003 they refinanced the first mortgage for $280,500.
- On 11/10/2003 they opened a $200,000 HELOC.
- On 9/15/2006 they went Ponzi and refinanced the first mortgage for $637,500.
- Total mortgage equity withdrawal is $330,600
-
Total squatting time is about 16 months so far.
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 06/10/2010
Document Type: Notice of Sale
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 03/05/2010
Document Type: Notice of Default
Foreclosure Record
Recording Date: 07/29/2009
Document Type: Notice of Default
When you see the asking price history, you sense a bit of panic at the bank. Perhaps they were not getting the short sale offers they wanted.
| Date | Event | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 2010 | Price Changed | $499,000 | ||
| Sep 13, 2010 | Price Changed | $654,900 | ||
| Aug 31, 2010 | Price Changed | $670,000 | ||
| Aug 27, 2010 | Price Changed | $679,900 | ||
| Aug 22, 2010 | Relisted | — | ||
| Aug 03, 2010 | Relisted | — | ||
| Jul 27, 2010 | Delisted | — | ||
| Jul 02, 2010 | Price Changed | $690,000 | ||
| Jul 02, 2010 | Relisted | — | ||
| Jun 08, 2010 | Delisted | — | ||
| May 14, 2010 | Listed | $680,000 | ||
| Aug 21, 1998 | Sold (Public Records) | $341,000 | ||
The extremes realtors go to attract attention is getting ridiculous. This house will not transact at $499,000. The realtor is playing a game to try to get some bidders into the process with hopes of duping them into bidding higher.
Irvine Home Address … 46 WHEELER Irvine, CA 92620 
Resale Home Price … $499,000
Home Purchase Price … $341,000
Home Purchase Date …. 8/21/1998
Net Gain (Loss) ………. $128,060
Percent Change ………. 37.6%
Annual Appreciation … 3.0%
Cost of Ownership
————————————————-
$499,000 ………. Asking Price
$17,465 ………. 3.5% Down FHA Financing
4.31% …………… Mortgage Interest Rate
$481,535 ………. 30-Year Mortgage
$95,362 ………. Income Requirement
$2,386 ………. Monthly Mortgage Payment
$432 ………. Property Tax
$0 ………. Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos)
$42 ………. Homeowners Insurance
$0 ………. Homeowners Association Fees
============================================
$2,860 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays
-$378 ………. Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax)
-$656 ………. Equity Hidden in Payment
$27 ………. Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes)
$62 ………. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves
============================================
$1,915 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership
Cash Acquisition Demands
——————————————————————————
$4,990 ………. Furnishing and Move In @1%
$4,990 ………. Closing Costs @1%
$4,815 ………… Interest Points @1% of Loan
$17,465 ………. Down Payment
============================================
$32,260 ………. Total Cash Costs
$29,300 ………… Emergency Cash Reserves
============================================
$61,560 ………. Total Savings Needed
Property Details for 46 WHEELER Irvine, CA 92620
—————————————————————————— 
Beds: 3
Baths: 2 full 1 part baths
Home size: 2,211 sq ft
($226 / sq ft)
Lot Size: 5,000 sq ft
Year Built: 1985
Days on Market: 136
Listing Updated: 40441
MLS Number: S617205
Property Type: Single Family, Residential
Community: Northwood
Tract: Gr
——————————————————————————
According to the listing agent, this listing may be a pre-foreclosure or short sale.
Beautiful Lite and Bright 3 Bedroom Home. Breakfast nook in kitchen, formal dining room, large master suite with walk in closet, inside laundry, new flooring. Close To Award Winning Irvine Schools. No Mello-roos, No Association Dues. Offers will be accepted at OPEN HOUSE ONLY Sat. Sept. 25 from 12-3 Home will be sold to the highest & best offer on Saturday.
Do any of you believe this home will be sold to the highest and best offer on Saturday? I hope none of you are that gullible.
I hope you have enjoyed this week, and thank you for reading the Irvine Housing Blog: astutely observing the Irvine home market and combating California Kool-Aid since 2006.
Have a great weekend,
Irvine Renter
“$35,000 in legal fees and locksmith bills as well as increased security and cleaning.”
Why not just say 34000 in legal fees? To continue the previous discussion on lawyers, simply put, they are way too expensive for limited skill. I don’t see why lawyers make so much. Its like the 6% commission…we all were used to it until redfin and discount brokerages. I know there are some do it yourself law firms but I can’t wait till true pricing discounts happen.
I have spoken with some lawyers who are amazed at the rates they can charge. It isn’t the ones who charge by the hour that make the real money though. The ones that take cases on a percentage of the judgment hit the real home runs.
“The ones that take cases on a percentage of the judgment hit the real home runs.”
Right, because litigation can cost tens of thousands (even millions in complex economic litigation), and a lawyer can eat all of it if he loses. So lawyers socialize the cost of one case upon another through high contingency fees. If plaintiffs had to pay legal bills up front to litigate their cases, their rates would be lower, but the poor and even middle class could never be able to pursue their legitimate claims.
As Eddie Felson said, “25% of something big is better than 100% of nothing.”
I’m not going to defend the female loan mod attorney’s ludicrous case, but let’s not disparage all lawyers because of horror stories. Remember, for every BS case, there’s a lawyer on the other side fighting against it.
At least lawyers have state bars that can take away their licenses. RE agents have nothing other than the penal code.
On the other hand, no realtor will send me a $2500 bill to cover the cost of a phone call.
Yeah, good luck with do-it-yourself law. Might want to look into saving money with DIY brain surgery as well.
One reason even brokers get their own agents is you have someone to sue if something goes horribly wrong. That 6% is insurance.
Who do you sue when you commit malpractice in your own legal case? Trust me, practicing law is not as easy as it looks on Boston Legal.
JDSoCal is correct.
I have assisted clients who signed financial assets over INCLUDING A PENSION to an soon-to-be ex-spouse.
I have assisted a woman who LOST PHYSICAL AND LEGAL CUSTODY OF HER DAUGHTER – even though she had a pre-existing court order from Kern County – ALL BECAUSE SHE WANTED TO SELF-REPRESENT ($$$).
Please, unless you understand and know courtroom protocols and terminology, know how to draft legal documents, draft Declarations, and Motions: Please do not self-represent.
~Misstrial
You are both right. In today’s system, you’d be insane to self-represent.
Of course, it is in attorney’s best interest to ensure that the law is always too complex for a normal person to understand. That way they can charge as much as $800/hr for phone calls, $35 for running a document through a copier, and $25,000 for customizing a document that they use all the time.
Look, I’m a software engineer — I know all about complex systems. I know that talking to clients is time-consuming, that not every call goes some where that leads to payment for the time, all that.
I even know that taking something I use all the time and customizing it for a particular client can be very costly and time consuming.
I recognize that it takes a lot of training to be proficient in the field. But really… is it 8x as hard as every other technical profession on the planet?
If I take a difficult project that will keep me busy for a month, it won’t cost my client $100,000 + expenses. On the other hand, it is a very simple legal problem that can be solved for “only $100,000”.
It seems like, if you’re going to have one time in your life that you need to hire an attorney, it is already cheaper to just become one and represent yourself, and stop having your access to justice dangled over your head by vultures who know that you have know choice because they rigged the system to make sure you didn’t.
We have about 15M unemployed people in America. Shouldn’t it be possible to get some of them to drive around and check on these houses? You could check on 15 homes/day, say once a week, that’s ~100 homes per squat-spotter (squatters in this case are people who never had any right to be in the home, or who had been evicted, not the wait-til-foreclosure type).
Say there are a million REOs out there (I don’t know the number and would rather guess than google). You’d need 10k spotters nationwide. Plus, it would be concentrated in the hardest hit areas, providing well targeted stimulus.
That banks can’t keep squatters out shows how poorly they run the operations side of their business. Most showed to be delinquent in the underwriting of their loans, many are sloppy at best, maliciously careless at worst in the foreclosure process, and they can’t manage their property portfolio. What are they good at?
“What are they good at?”
Collecting their bonuses.
I grew up thinking that bonuses were a form of compensation that rewarded hard work and excellent decision making skills. Boy was I wrong. I wasted most of my college years slaving away in dimly lit labs late in the evenings and through many weekends; meanwhile the ‘business majors’ partied hard and now that they’ve established careers in the financial industry they’re doing very well for themselves.
Don’t kid yourself; the streets aren’t full of unemployed banksters desperately seeking work (that story does make nice headlines however). I know plenty of thirty-somethings who work in the financial industry in NYC who haven’t even flinched through the downturn. Sure their starting salaries were relatively low, but ten years into their careers and 90% of them are doing very well.
I live in NYC and I think your shot against the bankers is undeserved. If the Bush tax cuts aren’t extended, they may have their a marginal tax rate going to 39.6% from 36%. This means a banker with $1m bonus will now only net $604k instead of $640k. Which means they just get a Lincoln Town Car not a stretch limo to the Hamptons. Think what that stress does when you are trading CDO’s? Have you no sympathy or decency for these hardworking middle class people? They have it rough (though not as rough at the 44 million Americans living in poverty I suppose)
The Bush tax cuts, while good on paper, should expire IMHO (and I’m a registered Repuke who’s more of a Libertarian).
This is the only way we can have a good ol’ reset of this pathetic damn economy. I’m only thinking about a damn reset, not the fact that tax cuts are good for average J6Ps by keeping what they’ve earned.
Hey, I have an idea winston. We could have a large band of thugs check out these homes, thugs like, say, the OCSD or even better, the LASD, and they could beat people and then jail them for slave labor.
Of course the thugs will all make $100,000+ per year with full benefits and 3% per year of retirement credit at 50 years of age. They are HEROES.
Here is part of your dream winston, do you have the fortitude to watch it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH9k8L3oDa4
Saw the video. Looks like people blaming all cops because of some bad ones. I don’t expect perfection, but accountability, yeah. Lots of things not seen and this is teh extreme. So what. It all happens. Hold em accountable later. You wanna change culture? Good luck.
Winstongator,
How dare you propose a plan to put lots of people to work for preventative measures and lay-off some high price lawyers and banksters for fees after the fact. People are unwilling to pay for an ounce of prevention, but willing to pay a pound for a cure or at least a claim for a cure.
Make work jobs are a waste. They destroy viable jobs. If it makes financial sense, let the bank hire these people. If it isnt profitable, the private sector wont touch a failed business venture. In your twisted “ounce of prevention” logic, you are sentencing everyone to invest, via govt, in a money losing venture. Such is the mindset of most Americans.
The “its an investment in our future” argument is complete bs.
Banks don’t want to keep the system going using their current set of high price employees. You scrach me, I scrach you. The arrangement works well for them, but you and I pick up the tab via taxes and bailouts. It would be much cheaper to keep the squatter outs then have a legal process to do a civil eviction. A FC on a good non-defective GSE backed loan is money on the front end of origination, service and extra for the FC fees for the banks and lawyers. It will be just another service fee. Better to write preforming loans using preventatve measures — requiring down payment, reasonable DTI ratio, employment history, credit history, etc. I banks held on to the loans, they would have a vested interest to write preforming loans. The govt. loan modifications, refinancing are removing liablity from the banks and transfer the resurection of non-preforming loans to the taxpayers.
provider,
Sorry about your house troubles.
Please keep us posted. Some dreams are nightmares.
Whoa, if it isn’t profitable, the private sector wont’ touch it. Isn’t this blog dedicated to the housing bubble – a venture so unprofitable that it nearly crippled the world economy?
Where have you been? ‘sentencing everyone to invest..in a money losing venture’? Don’t we own the GSE’s, and large stakes in Citi & other banks? I think we’re the biggest shareholder in Citi, and the FDIC and GSE’s own a bunch of properties. So, it would be in the gov’t’s, and thus ours, to be proactive about property maintenance.
They wouldn’t be make-work. Watching REO and abandoned properties serves a real benefit, and it isn’t something that would require a cop/security for every property.
I might have been exaggerating the numbers a little, but there’s a significant amount of work to be done to reduce damage to and clean-up even gov’t owned REO’s.
The private sector took these because the government made it a good deal. There were two possibilities:
1: it works out, and they make outsized profits.
2: it goes belly-up (quite likely) and the government steps in and mops up virtually all of the losses, and very few companies actually suffer.
Sure, we let 2 or 3 big firms fail, but then we step in and save everybody else. All that matters is that you aren’t among the first to go insolvent.
Damn you, Irvine Renter! I innocently clicked on that link to read about poor pathetic Randy Quaid, and got sucked into the TMZ black hole. Once you enter, you just can’t stop. Now I’ve spent an hour with “‘Memba Them?” I am wasting my life.
Oh, and that 1988 Biopic about LBJ was awesome. Quaid deserved that Golden Globe. He is much more talented than his brother.
Welcome to TMZ. BTW…they are extemely accuarate. They had MJ dead before anyone else. I have to read TMZ before IR each morning.
You know what makes me want to squat? THIS SITE, and I plan on squatting in the near future, you you my dear blog, have helped coach me in the proper way to do, as well as continue to point out the benefits of doing it. Moral hazard? PAhlease. Lord save me from your followers.
Swiller,
This site is just comment on the current squatter enhancement programs by the banksters and their co-conspirators in the govt, and media-self interest group lackeys. Moral hazard for the banksters and politicians are just for the common folks and not them. Bailout of billion for the banksters: absolute necessary for the economy. Squatting or late payment for common folk: a moral hazard.
As for you squatting, that’s you’re decision. If not taken, you might missing the window of opportunity (buy before you’re priced out of the market). 🙂 The squatting will end once the banksters, i.e., WS, rewrite the defective loans into non-defective non-preforming loans backed and packed by the govt. If you have a non-defective loan, IMHO your chances of squatting are greatly deminished. The liability will be the investors due to known risk or the GSE for packing implied backing. Either way, the taxpayers will be asked/forced to bend over again.
This home has lot of problems. You need to spend at least $50k + for clean up and repairs.This is not worth more than $550k..
That’s the way it looks to me as well.
Someone from Lawyers Realty Group, the listing agent, posts here.
Maybe they’ll share some insight regarding the auction and the turnout this weekend.
You’re out there. There is a huge difference between condoning police brutality and thinking that people using other people’s private property when not authorized should be limited. So should we never evict anyone? So no one would have to pay for anything? It doesn’t take much to see what that would lead to.
There are places where there aren’t organized police forces, but they have their thugs too. If you think the problems here are worse, then check out the other places. Not that we shouldn’t work to improve things here – check out Radley Balko at http://www.theagitator.com, or look up the story of Corey Maye, but you really need perspective.
Agree.
Trespassers should NOT be granted Renter’s Rights.
I don’t think the IPD would have a problem arresting squatters if the loan servicer/owner’s agent reported.
Its real simple folks, all the lender/loan servicer/owner’s agent needs to do is have a phone number or email address given to the neighbors and let nature take its course.
~Misstrial
So maybe a neighbor reporting system would work, and be cheaper…
Yes, and just post a sign on the property “No Trespassing” with IPD’s phone number.
~Misstrial
IR and other,
“In Malibu, Calif., Wells Fargo executive Cheronda Guyton occasionally occupied a $14.9 million beach house to host swanky social gatherings,”
How much servance pay/bonus was Guyton awarded by Wells Fargo?
FYI:
We are a couple, mid-40’s. We purchased a home at the foreclosure auction in Riverside, CA (at the Courthouse steps) and we paid $137K! We thought our dreams had come true until the nightmare began when we were told we owed $380,000 on the FIRST mortgage!!
The agent (he is his own broker) ‘missed’ the first mortgage on this property. [Or was it a purposeful fraud in a quick effort to get a whopping 10% commission!?!] We have learned now that the ‘usual percentage is 2% or 3% at most, never 10 percent!
By the time the agent/broker notified us of this [he somehow got a “conscience”? and let us know via email] that the checks had been cashed. We are still are doing EVERYTHING we can to get this sale rescinded. It’s been 2 weeks. We lost $137,000 and can’t get any answers.
A lawyer did a title search for us this week and it appears that the bank owned BOTH the 1st and the 2nd mortgage and deliberately put up the smaller 2nd to auction. How is this legal? Why are these sales held on government/public grounds? It gives the appearance of being a government sanctioned auction, but it is not.
We need to make this nightmare end. We have found several others on the Internet, like us, who thought they did their due diligence and got taken.
Any ideas?
Buying at foreclosure auctions is fraught with traps for the unwary unless you are an experienced and knowlegeable investor or auction property buyer.
For potential buyers: Please be CERTAIN of possible property liens and other clouds on the title by going to the county recorder/assessors offices and CHECKING THE TITLE/DEED IN PERSON.
Normally Judges have not been sympathetic to buyers who purchase at auction or the court house steps due to the belief that buyers SHOULD HAVE performed a title search FIRST. Due diligence.
You may be able to talk the owner’s agent into rescinding the sale, however its up to them.
If you are interested and respond to this post, I will post the email addy of my property purchaser who is a professional at auctions and is a real estate broker. He may be able to offer some advice, which I cannot do over the internet.
~Misstrial
Impt article to read if considering buying foreclosure(s) via auction:
http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-02/news/22007162_1_foreclosure-auction-courthouse-sale-second-mortgage
Please take note of the Related Articles listed on upper left of the page.
~Misstrial
North-of-Las Vegas home up for auction with a $1.2M 2nd:
http://www.mybudget360.com/nevada-depression-like-unemployment-foreclosures-million-dollar-2nd-home-mortgages
Mystical effect of Chinese lunar festival? 🙂
92603 median price $888,000
http://lansner.ocregister.com/2010/09/24/home-sales-fall-in-52-zips-yours/82814/
“Do any of you believe this home will be sold to the highest and best offer on Saturday? I hope none of you are that gullible.”
What did 32 Vienne 92606 sold for last week? Anybody know. That’s a pretty good indicator for this house.
I was surprised at first by the asking price of this house. But then, VOILA, “Offers will be accepted at OPEN HOUSE ONLY Sat. Sept. 25 from 12-3 Home will be sold to the highest & best offer on Saturday.”
I think we’ll probably see more and more of this type of **auction** as houses are continuing to sit idle.
I think 21 Lily Pool falls in the same category. Can anyone give an educated guess as to the sale price? Looks like agent wants bidders for this property as well. I am interested in this neighborhood.
Nice to see one of our proerties highlighted here. We had, conservatively speaking, 200 people at our open house with I believe, at final count 35 bids. They ranged from $455,000, some people didn’t get it, to $670,000. The 3 highest bids will be sent to the bank tomorrow and we will have this property sold by the end of the week. Something I think some of you guys miss is Irvine is in high demand (at the right price) by Asians and other ethnic groups because of education. Does that mean they are willing to overpay for a home if it is in the right school district? I think so, to a limit. To sum it up the open house went well and we successfully sold the home.
Jb,
If you successfully sell a home using this method, please email me with the final details. I will profile more of them. I am not a fan of reserve auctions advertised as non-reserve auctions, so I have my doubts about this process. If this does work as described, I will publicize it.
IR, I will keep you posted but so far it is exactly as I detailed. I’m doing another one this weekend on Lido Island ion Newport Beach.
This house is already sold? Looks like its been removed from listing.
Yes the property sold.