I bought my first investment property for $1 and now I need help.

[Chris Pohlson]

I went to a sheriff's sale auction in Sioux Falls, SD to learn the ropes.  A property came up and the mortgagee didn't put in an opening bid.  The sheriff took about an hour trying to get a hold of the party but ultimately the auction happened without a bid.  Since I was the only one there bidding, I bid $1 and won.  There's about $2300 in back taxes owed-not a big deal (tax assessed is $66k).  I'm trying to figure out if I should pursue the deal or if I'm just spinning my wheels.  Can someone tell me if the mortgagee can redeem?  My thought is the mortgagor probably can't come up with the cash it takes to redeem if I maintain the property, pay taxes, etc...but I'm sure the mortgagee can.  If I pay a lawyer $200 an hour to draw up certificate of sale, am I just spinning my wheels because the mortgagee will likely redeem?  Thanks in advance!

[Curtis Steineke]

 Do you know how much the mortgage is for?  That may make a difference on what they are willing to do, but you wouldn't think they would let it go for $1.   There may be other liens against the property.  You can go to the clerk of courts and find that out as well.  I looked at a property in SF a couple of weeks ago, had 1K in liens against it, there was a judgement that was for 15k, but missed the filing of the foreclosure by one day so it didn't attach to the property.   Something to look at in the process of figuring out.