Sheriff's Sale - What am I missing?

[Chad Jarrah]

Hey guys, hope all is well with everyone. I've been investing for about 10 years now and I'm currently trying to get involved in Sheriff's sales. I live in Pennsylvania (Lehigh Valley) and am familiar with the Sheriff's sale process, but can't quite seem to figure out what I'm missing. I know I need 10% down in the form of a cashier's check; I know the properties to find are those where the first lienholder is bringing the judgement; I know changes can happen to the available properties up to the morning of the sale. What I don't know are a few very important pieces that are holding me back from purchasing.

Am I supposed to hire a title searcher to do a current owner search on 150 properties that may or may not even end up being offered in the sale? That would be 15K wasted without even a guarantee that I would even successfully bid on a property. That doesn't make much sense. I know a bit about the searching process but not enough to trust my judgement in what I find. I know I can call the attorney handling the sale of a specific property to get the upset price, but that info is typically only available the day before the sale, not leaving very much room to plan which ones my price range would allow be to target.

Really looking forward to any and all help that you guys may have to offer. If more specifics are needed to answer my questions, I am more than willing to supply them. Thanks in advance!