Drop Bids at Trustee Sales

Drop Bids at Trustee Sales

The Arizona Republic recently ran an article discussing the practice of "drop bids" at the Maricopa County foreclosure auction.  When a lender posts a Notice of Sale amount (often referred to as the minimum bid) and then drops the amount hours or even minutes before the opening of the auction, this process is known as a drop bid and is considered illegal in Arizona.  Ideally, lenders are encouraged to post the Notice of Sale amounts for foreclosure properties that will be sold at the trustee sale at least 24 hours prior to the start of the sale.

According to the article, up until recently, the majority of homes brought to auction through the trustee sale were failing to sell and were reverting back to the banks.  These properties would then re-enter the market as REOs.  This all changed last month as a record 1,000 properties sold through the public foreclosure auction process.  This was five times the number that sold in January.  According to the Republic, "Real estate market watchers and unsuccessful bidders at the auctions say drop bids are driving the record number of auction sales."

No one seems to be sure why banks would choose to lower the minimum bid without adequate notice.  Those who are up in arms over the practice tend to imply that the reasons are malicious, but there are other possibilities.  Kelly Braaksma, a trustee sale expert and CEO of FAST (Foreclosure Auction Service Team) a company that specializes in helping investors to purchase properties at auction, says that the uncertainties surrounding properties coming to auction may have more to do with last minute price changes than anything else.  "Lenders are inundated with foreclosure properties," Braaksma says, "of the hundreds or thousands of properties slated to be auctioned off at any particular trustee sale, only a few dozen may actually make it up to bid.  The rest are postponed, canceled, reinstated, etc.  All the aspects of the sale, including starting bid price, are constantly in flux right up until the last minute."

Whatever the reason, the Arizona Republic continues by saying, "Drop-bid purchases enable the few who know about the deals to buy homes and quickly resell them for hefty profits...Buyers aware of the "drop bids" scoop up the houses before other bidders know about the price drops."

Mr. Braaksma has developed a system that analyzes historical opening bids from various lenders, along with a myriad of other data and generates algorithms that predict which properties are most likely to actually make it to auction and which will most likely have opening bids that make them worthwhile to investors.  I have formed an alliance with FAST in order to provide this service to my clients looking to purchase at the trustee sale.  I don't charge more for the service, clients pay only my standard commission at the close of a sale.  But for this commission, they are provided not only with all of the reports and data that FAST generates, but also with a representative that will be present at every Trustee auction, available to purchase these choice properties and take advantage of last minute drop bids.

If you are interested in using trustee sales / foreclosure auctions to acquire property, please contact me and I will send you a packet with more information on the process:
Glenn Plantone (702) 769-9872

Click here to read the full Arizona Republic article