Someone outbidding everyone at a sheriff sale/auction

[Todd Jones]

This as been bothering me for several, several years so I'd figure I'd ask the experts here. Thank you in advance, btw.

Background:
When I looking to buy my first home, I tried the sheriff sales as I didn't find any good prospects through the MLS based on my budget. You're not allowed to look or walk around but I refused the site unseen so I drove by them. Understandably, my family was against it per their contractor/real estate experience. My brother said "You'll buy a house but it will have a toilet in the middle of the living room and the worst part is...it works." Some of you know that he is not 100% inaccurate.

I found very good prospects and I went with my required amount ready to buy at the Justice Center. Bidding starts at 70% below the city's appraised value (e.g., the bid starts at $70,000 for a home appraised at $100,000).
A millisecond after the auctioneer started the bidding on the 1st home, a man said "bid" assertively while writing on a clipboard. Another person jumped..."75". Without hesitation, the "clipboard guy" stated "120". The 2nd guy didn't bother.
This process continued on for most of the homes. He kept out bidding everyone by jumping the price to a high value that didn't seem to be necessary. There was only 1-2 times that day where he was out bided but the homes weren't worth it as I thoroughly research each home on that list. My potential homes were taken off the list at the last minute as I assume the owner negotiated w/ the bank on their foreclosure.

These sheriff sale deals were too good to pass and I found other potentials so I went to the next one. The same thing happened. Same clipboard individual and same process. My potential home that I really wanted came up. I tried but he jumped past my limit after 3 bids. I tried to talk to him afterwards but he was all business and didn't want to interact.

Someone told me he was most likely a representative of the bank(s). His objective was to get the bids up to the level where the bank can get their money back. But his strategy seemed illogical.  He out bided a considerable amount of individuals. I understand that the bank "winning" the bid is like "I'm going to buy the shoes I already own".
But I though banks want to liquidate homes out of their portfolio ASAP and write it off money loss for taxes.

Question:
Has anyone experienced this at sheriff sales/auctions?
Was the guy really a representative from the bank or a rep. for someone who wanted all the homes they can get where price didn't matter?
If he was from the bank, was the bank's strategy to get all their money lost from the foreclosure (and maybe more) and if they can't, just keep the home and use it for tax write offs for years (i.e., all or nothing)?

I really want to go back to them as the deals still look great to this day. 

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Todd Jones, they may have been a bank representative. The lender may believe the property is worth more and want to recoup as much as possible.

In my state (PA), the lawyer for the lender announces the "Upset Price" the theoretical price the lender is willing to bid up to to keep from wasting time in the auction bidding up to that. If nobody bids after that the lender takes the property for the MINIMUM bid and pays LESS closing costs from the auction as a result.

If someone bids, they typically start at that Upset Price and go up from there. So, in my state its very clear that the lenders are getting 90% of the properties back at a Sheriff's auction as they seek to recoup as much as possible from a sale.

Also, the "City's Appraised Value", it likely meaningless. It is probably the assessed value used for property taxes and may be woefully out of date or incorrect. They might be valuations from 1999 for example. So, you can't base any thinking on that.