Georgia, where I live, is a non judicial foreclosure State, meaning you do not have to sue someone in order to foreclose on their property. If you are the holder of the note (the bank in most cases), and the loan goes in to default, you merely advertise the property for 4 weeks in the local legal paper, then knock it off on the courthouse steps on the first Tuesday of the following month.
Many people are critical of this process and I really can't understand why. People tend to want banks to loosen lending guidelines or make getting loans easier, then at the same time make it harder for a bank to foreclose on a property. It just doesn't make sense. What is the purpose of putting up collateral if that collateral can't be used to get the money back.
There are also those who like to demonize the investors who buy these foreclosures on the courthouse steps. I have a hard time understanding that thought process as well. Yes, they're in it to make money. Nobody wants to work and NOT make money. They are also taking on a considerable risk for their investment. These investors don't always make money, and sometimes lose money on the properties they buy. In most cases, they have never seen the inside of the home they are purchasing, and the repairs may eat up any profit there would have been.
I have a lot of respect for the foreclosure investor. First of all, they put up cash money, which pays off the loan against the property and allows the money to be recirculated. Secondly, in most cases, they go in and spend additional money making repairs to the property to make it marketable. This also helps to clean up a blight in the neighborhood, & hopefully improves property values.
Greedy? I don't think so....
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