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Thanks for the response. That makes sense, the auction is the legal milestone that puts the property up for sale so it would be illegal to bypass the foreclosure process.

Any general idea of what %FMV to expect from an auction? I'm guessing it varies widely depending on local market conditions, but do you know of any typical hurdles (say 65% or 70%) that generally make the added risk (i.e. title and lien risk) worthwhile?

I'm looking into better ways of buying flip properties rather than going through MLS. I've found good deals on MLS, but they are few and far between, and now I need to get a higher volume of deal flow. Does anyone have any experience buying foreclosures at the weekly auction at the Martinez Courthouse for Contra Costa County? Specifically, do you pay the entire amount in cash at the time of the auction, or do you put 10% down and close within a certain amount of days? How much due dilligence do you typically do before bidding? Is there an easy way to see the results of past auctions (i.e which ones went back to the bank vs. sold to private bidders, price sold, etc.)? My understanding is that most go back to the bank and become REO's. If this is the case, do you try to buy from the bank before the auction and have them cancel the auction? Any comments are appreciated…

-Josh

Sorry about that - I'll limit any future self-promotion to the signature...

-Josh

A former boss (a partner at a real estate development firm in the San Francisco Bay Area) told me that if I would retire when I got $10m, then I would never get to $10m.

I would retire if I had $10m and try to make the PGA tour...

I flip in the Walnut Creek, Lafayette, Moraga, area. I am a real estate broker, and have found a few deals on MLS. I look for a house that I can purchase for at least $225,000 less than the average price of the home's comps in the area. As you can guess, this means that I am purchasing a house that is a disaster area (I almost got sick from walking in the Lafayette house – that's when I knew I had a winner). A house in this condition generally needs $60-90k in work, and will take somewhere between 2-4 months to renovate.

Is there a reason why everyone seems to use HML? Am I an amateur for going to the bank for a blended rate of 9% on a combo-mortgage package with 100% financing? I know the mortgage process takes a while to complete (even with reduced docs), but is there another advantage to HML that I am missing?

-Josh

I'd be interested in the contact info. I'm on my second flip in the San Francisco Bay Area, and wouldn't mind 15 minutes of fame. Although, I'm already at the point where I've partnered with a GC to do all the work, so all I do is find the deals, pick the materials, and sell the property. Not exactly exciting television...

-Josh
Shameless plug alert: I want to introduce my new blog LINK REMOVED - PLEASE USE SIGNATURE FOR YOUR LINK which I hope will provide some useful information on renovation, development and investing in the San Francisco Bay Area market.

I hope to meet like-minded professionals in the Bay Area looking to get involved with progressively bigger and bigger renovation, and then development deals. I am currently pursuing my dream of self-employment by buying, renovating, and selling homes in the Bay Area, as well as working as a project management consultant on projects for local developers.

I earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and holds a degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a degree in Computer Science from the University of Missouri. I am a licensed Real Estate Broker and Realtor, and am active member of the Urban Land Institute and California Association of Realtors. Josh is a seasoned professional with over 7 years of project management experience in the fields of real estate, management consulting, and software development. Most recently, I worked as a Project Manager for Regis Homes of Northern California – one of the largest home builders in the Bay Area with over 200 multi-family and single-family homes developed each year.