All Forum Posts by: Monica Morff

@Tim Herman It is a reserve auction, so I know there is a minimum but it is not being disclosed. We have been contacting many different lenders and submitted applications with a couple (one is a local bank, the other is an agricultural lender) because we were finding that most government-backed lenders were not able to help us. I didnt think about that, how someone could want to buy it because of family nearby...

@Erik W. Wow! Thank you for all of the information. We did get to see the property, so that helps a bit. Wouldn't they have to disclose if there is a lien on the property or if taxes are owed? Or is that up to the buyer to do due diligence? I really appreciate all of the information!

I am wondering if anyone has any tips for buying a property at auction. I have never been to one before (though trying to arrange to go to one and watch before the one I actually want). I am a bit nervous about being outbid, but the auction is a rural property being sold via estate auction, not foreclosure. Any tips about how to value the property, bidding strategies, etc. would be appreciated!

Hi All,

We are looking at buying our first auction property and I am trying to get an idea of value/potential sale price. The property in question is from 1915, it is an estate auction, it is outdated but sound, and on 40 acres (only 10 acres high ground) with a cell phone tower. I've been trying to figure out the value, but I have heard mixed things about cell phone towers and their impact on the value so I have a couple of questions related to that and to auctions:

1. Will a cell tower with a lease paid to the new buyer raise the value of the property because it is income producing? Or would it typically reduce the value since the cell phone tower is pretty close to the house and could potentially be considered an eyesore or health hazard (for the people who believe that)?

2. In your experience, do auction properties generally sell at, above, or below market value?

I get that these questions are all pretty subjective, but I would appreciate any insight anyhow!

Hi @Nanci Janes, 

We ended up having to schedule the eviction, they filed to quash the writ issued by the judge meaning the eviction by the sheriff was cancelled, we filed for another court date which was two weeks out (surprise! They still didn’t pay us and still didn’t have the full amount at the court date). Then we had the sheriff come the following week. It took us over a month cleaning and fixing things up there every free day that we had to get it ready to rent again. The place was filthy and I’m about 90% sure these people were using drugs. My only regret is that we don’t know where they are now to A) sue them in small claims court for the $4,000-$5,000 they owed us and B) call CPS because young children should not be in a house as disgusting and unsafe as that. 

But Oh well, we live and learn. 

It is now rented to a nice family that pays on time so I am happy!

Thank you for asking!

@Wayne Brooks, that is true... it is funny because she is a paralegal and their lawyer in this case is the lawyer that she works for so I would imagine that she knows a thing or two about the legal system.

I think we may do that. I thought $7,500 was a good offer but they didn't seem to even consider it.

Hi JD Martin,

Thank you for the input! Those costs seem very low. We tried to ask insurance about covering it but they said they will not look into it until a lawsuit is filed?

And yes, that's true. They did have an inspection and we did fix or replace a list of items that they requested. It feels like they are going back and forth as well because when they talk about how we "should have known", they say there would be no way that we didn't but when we bring up their inspector or our plumber not saying anything, they respond that the plumber and inspector are not water intrusion experts (hint: neither are we).

I hope that you are right in that this may just be dismissed. Thank you!

We did have a $1 million umbrella policy but found out that when we switched insurance companies, we didn't end up getting one again, though I definitely want to look into that again.

@Brian Boyd Thank you! That was what we were thinking but it is hard to know.

And thank you, I appreciate that so much! I will do that.

Hi @Brian Boyd,

I still do not see an attorney fees section but will look it over again later on.

I appreciate the advice! We have been trying to settle but they just don't seem very willing. Also, can I ask, does it seem odd to you that they are trying to bring their perception of our financial background into play? Maybe you are right and they are just trying to scare us into paying more.

Thank you again!

Hi @Brian Boyd,

I just read through the purchase agreement and it doesn't seem to explicitly say that they would be responsible for our fees, but I would imagine that we could counter-sue for those in the case that they lose at trial, correct?

We do have a lawyer already as well, we just aren't sure if we should keep trying to settle if that would be more cost effective/less stressful, or if we could just see if they move forward. We really believe that we did not do anything wrong, we just want to minimize our cost for this. 

Hi @James Fisher,

We did not have inspection when we purchased the property, but the buyers did. I have not seen their inspection report though. We did provide Seller's Disclosures and filled them out to the best of our knowledge with disclosing the water we did have, that we did not pull permits, etc. They are now saying that there are cracks in the foundation and we checked on disclosures that there were not, but we did not see them when we filled out disclosures.

No, we did not have anything like that. We had a plumber do all of the plumbing and my husbands dad is a contractor who helped with the work in the basement and no one raised concerns in the time they were working for us.