Should I bid during the upset period on soon to be REO?

[Mike Dawson]

I found a foreclosure I'm interested in and just trying to strategize.  

The bank has the winning bid.  Is it a good idea to let the bank win the auction, and then try to negotiate with them?  Or, place an upset bid and win it myself?

I like that if the bank takes ownership, any title issues will be cleared up, but I also don't want to have to pay more for this property.  On the issue of title, a friend of mine who has being title work for 20 years has helped me research this property and he's seen nothing that would suggest I would have any issues, but did suggest a real estate attorney and title insurance regardless.  

Thanks for any help!  

[Daniel Gabrielli]

Hey Mike,

I hope you won your bid on this property.  If not, there are always new ones that come along.  I found the bidding process to be very profitable in NC for more than 20 years now. You should learn how to do your own title searchs, it saves money, time and is really not hard!  NC is the only state that has a 10 day upsetbid process, so it's true, it can be painfull and drawn out.  If I really want a property I usually try to bid low enough where I can still make money but high enough so the next guy who has to bid at least 5% or $750 higher, (which ever is greater, true for all counties in NC)  will need to think twice about upseting my bid. That doesnt mean I always jump up the price of my bid, but in my book, the idea is to win the bid as soon as possible.  The longer it sits in the bidding process the more time it gives other investors to notice it, check it out and possibly upset the bid.