Foreclosure Property with a open bid

[Grant Reid]

Hi All, yes another newbie only one rental in!  I need some advise. 

I have been binge watching podcasts on BP and have found a single family home close to me that I researched. The following is what I have found. Firstly it has had the price reduced 4 times in the last 4 weeks. It is on the MLS but I did a back round check and I noticed that the home was in foreclosure in late march and went to auction on the 30th march 2019. Then to make it really complicated, the owner passed away in May! Now on the county foreclosure site it is showing as if it has been foreclosed as it was auctioned on the auction date but has an OPEN BID showing and the open bid seems to be about 15k less that what is owing to the banker that had mortgaged the property.

Ok! so here is my question, what does this all mean, I have set up a viewing of the property this afternoon and the MLS asking price is about 145k above the OPEN BID. What does this mean. Does it mean that there is a bid of say 100k but the agent is probably trying to sell a REO property and most importantly if i want BRRR this propertly, what sort of offer would I need to offer in this scenario to be able to buy it at a great price. DO I have a chance of going and offering above the open bid or do I need to be close to where the MLS price is but with an offer that works for me obviously? Is there any std on how REO properties are costed when priced to be put on the market, do they want to turn a huge profit or do they mosty want to get their money back? I suppose I know the answer to that but would appreciate your input so I can get an understanding on this process for the future as well. Can somebody shed some light on this please? Thanks in advance