Public auction research

[Mike Bell]

A house has came up on a local auctioneers page that I am interested in purchasing. There is an open house so I will be attending to check out the condition of the home. It requires a 10 percent down on sale day which I don't have a problem with, however it is non refundable in the event that I am unable to close. My max price on the house will be 30 percent less than what I'm approved for as well as what I feel the home would be worth on the MLS. my question is, would it be worth it to have a title examination done prior to the sale to ensure no unknown liens are on the property ? Aside from gettin a pre approval letter from my lender what other homework should I do before sale day ? Thank you for your time. Also, I'm in West Virginia if anyone has purchased homes from public auction that's not a foreclosure here and knows anything about the process.

[Michael Colebank]

Hi Mike, I'm from the Bridgeport area. I know a lot of the auctions Joe R Pyle has are guaranteed clear title.  Contact your auctioneer, they may have the same guarantee. If they don't, it may be worth it. I would do it after the open house. Make sure it's not a listing with really great pictures but is in worse condition than you want to deal with. You may be able to do a cursory examination by going to the courthouse. I know in Taylor county, the workers have basically walked me through the process when I was looking at properties for tax auction.