All Forum Posts by: Curtis Eckhardt

So Sheriff Sales... I'm getting more familiar with them but there are still some outstanding questions that I need answered before making any moves. I get that the upset price is the amount the price set by the plaintiff and court fees. If you pay that, you usually end up getting the place. The county office suggests that you do a title search. Aren't 2nd or 3rd position liens accounted for in the upset price? Is it possible to pay the upset price to suddenly find that there is a huge lien that now you are responsible for? I've read in various internet posts suggesting that a sheriff sale gives the property a "clean slate". Of course some liabilities are transferred such as judgement liens or HoA fees or water / sewage fees. The utility fees are usually minor. I'm concerned with a major liability. 

So I got there about 15 minutes before 2pm. It's on the 5th floor of the Morris County Clerk's building. Attached to the door of the room is the upset list of properties.There were about 20 people in the audience and 4 officials behind the bench. Before we started there were last minute updates to the upset list for everyone to look at. Everyone lined up to take a picture for reference. 17 properties total to auction off. 

The whole process was pretty quick. Most of them went to the plaintiff (a bank) for $100. One person seemed to be representing multiple plaintiffs as he was the only one announcing the upsets for the property and any other relevant details. The sheriff would give the starting amount, say "going once, going twice, sold to the bank for $100." Each property was done pretty fast (say 5 seconds at most?) if nobody wanted to pay the upset price.

There were only 2 properties that got bid on. One was uncontested, the other went back and for between two people 4 times. The minimum bid increment is $1000. They would say the amount and their last name. After the sheriff confirms they are the buyer, the person would go behind the bench to verify funds and the sheriff would declare the sale good. 

I was out of there by 2:27 pm just to give you an idea of how quick it is.

So I'm planning on attending tomorrow's Morris county auction in Morristown. I'm going for more of a learning experience to see how they proceed. Anyone familiar with auctions? Any tips or things I should be paying attention to? The basics are covered on the state website: 

https://sheriff.morriscountynj.gov/civil/about_sal...

What I'm more interested in are the unwritten rules or the how's and why's people are bidding. Are there usually representatives from the bank bidding up the price to get something better than what the reserve is set at? What information is important to be armed with before entering the room?

Hello Everyone!

I'm trying to determine what a reasonable price investors are willing to put into a recent purchase. I've heard about the BRRR strategy on biggerpockets and the rehab part is still a mystery to me. If you are going to force appreciation, I'm guessing there's a way to calculate that and determine whether your rehab costs are too much and therefore the whole thing is a bad deal. Keep in mind this is using a general contractor or specialist to do the job. Maybe it comes down to only repairing things that are relatively cheap? What are repairs are generally considered acceptable?