Absentee bidding at a Sheriff's sale- any words of advice to protect myself?

[Steve R.]

Hello,

I want to bid on a property at a sheriff sale but I will be put of town on that date. The sheriff requires a certified check (20%) from the winning bidder. The check must be made out to my name and if I'm the winning bid, I would normally sign the back and hand it over. Since I cannot use a friend to bid for me due to schedule conflicts, I was going to get a lawyer, give him the the endorsed certified check with instructions on my highest bid and he would go to the auction for me.
If I win, he hands over the check and if not, he holds onto the check for me until my return. I have to endorse the check as it is not valid until I do so and I figure an established lawyer would not try and run off with my money. I was going to get a letter from the atty stating the objective and check received. Any thoughts or suggestions?

PS the check must be certified, made out to me and must be endorsed to be legal.

thanks

[Steve Babiak]

In my county the certified check is made payable to the sheriff.

Look up the attorneys already attending the sheriff sale to bid for the banks. In my county, there is one guy who is a proxy bidder for lots of parties - other attorneys who lack a local office, investors, second position lien holders, etc. That is the type of attorney you want to use if you can find him (or her). The out-of-area attorneys probably could tell you who that proxy is that they use.

Also, sometimes attorneys have some special standing as "officers of the court". In my area, it means that they aren't required to have certified funds - their own check works.

Your instructions on highest bid are only part of the story. What about starting bid, and increments to bid when overbidding somebody else?