Obtaining Upset Price When No Attorney Name is Given??

[Chad Jarrah]

Hello all,

Up until now, all of the sheriff's sales I've been to have had the attorney/firm name on the sale list. I'd call the firm and ask for the upset price a day or two before the sale. Half the time they give it, they other half they refuse (is this typical for everyone else?) Recently I attended a sheriff's sale in a different county - on the sale list the only info given was the plaintiff/defendant (i.e. Wells Fargo vs. John Doe), the property address and the judgement amount. How can I find the upset price with this limited info?

Look forward to any wisdom. Thanks in advance!

[Steve Babiak]

A search at the county prothonotary on the party names should give a case / docket number. The docket info should have the name of an attorney - the name should then be researched at the county bar association to get contact info if contact info hadn't already been given. 

Sometimes you can't get the upset amount until the attorney is already in the courtroom; some bidders will yell "who is here for attorney name" to see what the bid will be in advance; that makes sense in those counties that take many hours to conduct the sheriff sale, only to discover that the bank's bid is way too high. 

Some firms will not give the upset bids in advance. And one big firm just recently (late in 2015) stopped giving the upset bids in advance. IMO, that can be detrimental to the foreclosing lender, because if the lender is willing to let a property go for far less than the published debt - many bidders would just ignore the property that is over-encumbered compared to market value. But if you know that the lender will let it go for a lot less, you might actually prepare a bid and give the property a quick examination.