Buying Properties at Sheriff Sale in Baton Rouge
Sheriff sales in Baton Rouge are conducted on the steps of the courthouse. You should have monitored the property you’re interested in on the sheriff’s web site.
Baton Rouge Sheriff Office Real Estate Sales List
Sheriff sales start at 9:00 am on the scheduled date. You will likely have competition at the sale. In addition to other private citizens bidding on the property, there will be a representative for the lender bidding as well, typically the attorney that the lender hired to execute the foreclosure process.
Bidding will start at 2/3s of the writ amount. The writ amount is the loan’s principal balance when the mortgagee stopped paying their mortgage.
Example:
Value of property in good condition: $200,000
Value of property in current condition: $180,000
Sheriff’s Appraisal: $170,000
Writ Amount: $145,000
Bid start: $97,150
The lender will figure they are owed the writ amount, plus past due interest since payments stopped, attorney fees, and a 3% sheriff sale fee. The lender will instruct their representative at the sale to drive the bid up to at least that amount, which in this example could exceed $170,000. In most cases, it’s the lender who is the one willing to bid the most, not a private citizen bidding at the sale.
If you do win the bid at Sheriff Sale in Baton Rouge, you will need certified funds for the amount you bid by 2:00 pm the day of the sale. If you do not have the funds to finalize the sale that day, the property will be auctioned again and you could be responsible for the difference in what you bid and the final sale price.
Because the lender is typically willing to bid up the price to recover what they are owed, buying properties at sheriff sale in Baton Rouge is not easy.
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