Advice on bidding on Deceased Owner Property at Trustee Sale (County Steps Auction)

[Chad Coleman]

Hello all:

I am interested in bidding on foreclosure property but did a quick research and found that the owner is deceased 6 months ago and no probate case in currently open, the deceased owner was a single person per the recorded documents but no clue if there any hires to this person.  What would be the risk associated if I bid on this property? The property is located in Texas. I have read that the property won't have a clear title until 4 years passed after the owner passed if there is no probate case open during this time.  If a probate case gets open even after the foreclosure is conducted, it could nullify the foreclosure sale, want to doubled check if I understand this correctly.  Any info from someone ran into a similar situation would be really helpful! Thanks in advance. 

[Philip Traynor]

Hi John, it makes no difference if the trustee is unaware of the death of the borrower.  In fact, it is fairly common to have to rescind sales because someone was deceased and that information hadn't made it into the public records yet.  The trustee is basically just an auction vendor for the foreclosure firm, but the firm does run checks to see if the borrower is deceased at several points in the process.  Standard practice is to run a check at referral, when the notice of sale is posted, and the day before and the day after the sale.