An owner is only entitled to a surplus above the total debt, not some arbitrary "starting bid", and assuming there are no junior lien holders.

But if they overbuild again, then surplus supply could lead to lower prices.  

Investors will be amazed looking back 5 yrs from now at how all those nice houses have now become surplus with fewer kids to buy them.

We didn't need the surplus and the balance got applied to our principal at the end of the process.

They should have a list of properties that are held by the county because of being forclosed upon for taxes owed.They are sometimes listed as surplus properties.

This deal was actually a vacant piece of land in Northern Queens, The Elmhurst area to be exact.There are many benefits to living in a highly populated area.1) I can walk to all the properties i would like to buy,2) My marketing or "getting deals" consists of walking my neighborhood and knocking on doors.3) There is a surplus of buyers lined up with cash ready to close.Back to the deal,1) The property a 20x100 lot that is zoned R4.2) The lot was not taken care of with grass growing everywhere.3) The seller live in NJ!

If you have surplus cash invest it elsewhere to earn a income and keep your dead equity to a bare minimum.

If you think the value of the property will increase keep it and use surplus rental income to reduce principal and sell it for more later.If you think the value is unlikely to increase in the next say 3 to 5 years get out with a small profit and do better on the next one

The surplus will drive prices down.

You may be able to request they re-analyze your escrow account, and if there is a surplus ask they apply the surplus to your loan account.