New to Sheriff sales...could use some pointers!

[Pat Riley]

Hi All,
My name's Pat. I've been working in real estate for a little bit now and I'm starting to look to get into investment properties.
I went to my first sheriff sale in Berks county PA the other day. I had a list with all the properts up for auction and it gave the Minimum Bid amount and the Down Payment amount. Now it's my understanding that the down payment is 10%. What is this a percentage of? Estimated fair market value?
When the properties were announced the representing attornies would give the minimum bid then announce there Upset Price. And just about all of the properties went right back to the bank.
Now please tell me if I have the wrong assumption here. For the sake of round numbers, if the listed down payment is $20,000 (10% of fair market value?) and the Upset amount announced is only $75,000...this is a good deal, right? Obviously condition, locattion,ect come into play. But I just really want to make sure I'm wrapping my head around this the right way.

Any advice or tips are GREATLY appreciated!!!!

[Jim Wineinger]

Despite what was just posted, the form of deed that you will recieve is a very important factor.
A warrenty deed is fully insurable and guaranteed by the one issuing that deed that they have full rights to said property.
A quit claim deed can be issued by anyone on any property even if the do not own it. Basically they are saying the they quit any claim that they MAY have had to the property. It does not warrant or guarantee that there are no other claims to the property. Which is why you may not be able to get title insurance on a property sold by a quit claim deed.
Most other "deeds", such as a Clerk and Master Deed, are of this same nature in that they do guarantee they that they had full rights to sell property but will not guarantee anything else has been filed against said property therefore you may be buying subject to other liens or redemption periods. And since liens go with property you are buying the right to pay off their lien.

Saying that a lien goes with the property is not always considered as factual, however if you want the property free and clear you must pay off any other liens on that property to have full rights to sell it, therefore to fully buy the property you must satisfy that lien which is actually filed against the borrower who pledged the property.

There are other ways to "clear title" but they usually involve litigation.