Pursuing a foreclosure

[Mariah Jeffery]

I'm interested in a particular property in my neighborhood that is being auctioned off in 3 weeks. It's two blocks from me and I heard about it from the neighborhood HOA. It was supposed to be auctioned off in July, and was rescheduled for Sept. Since finding out about the property, I have done the following:

- Gone to the courthouse and searched the county records. I found only 1 lien by the HOA for $400.
- Walked past the house several times each week and talked to any neighbor who would talk to me. They all said the homeowner was not the type to trash the place. She lives out of state and is going through a divorce. (However, the deadbolt is missing, so it appears that someone could have broken in. Looking through the deadbolt, I can see dirty carpet and a few missing fixtures).
- Sent a letter to the homeowner, which was ignored.
- Called the trustee to check on the status, and all they can tell me is it's still on schedule. Starting bid will be available 3 days prior to auction.
- Gone to the courthouse twice to watch the auctions, but both times no one bought any properties because the bids started at more than the properties were worth. I do plan to go back and hopefully watch a purchase soon.

Is there anything else I should be doing?

I briefly subscribed to Realtytrac and it listed two different starting bids - one about $112K an the other for $156K. Zestimate is ~$300K. Is there anywhere I can go to find out the approximate starting bid sooner than 3 days before the auction, when the trustee will have it? I keep looking for it in my local newspaper, but I haven't seen it. Will they post another notice on the property? The last post was back in July.

In my county, I have to pay all cash the day of the auction, so it would be nice to have a rough idea how much I will need to bring in cashiers checks.