Bob's Painful Foreclosure

These last few months I have been visiting the Sheriff Sales in PA for properties up for foreclosure. It has been alot of work as I would get the list, look at the areas, determine which properties are worth the effort, drive to the property, and speak with the homeowners while looking at the condition of the property. It takes time but I like talking with people and seeing the actual properties.

This past month I visited one house located in the Port Richmond area of Philadelphia in which the property was a 3br / 1ba. My partner and I approached the house and found the door was unlocked. Looking for the owner was not too hard as he came later. He was a guy named Bobby (not his real name) in his early 20s and I asked if he knew there is a sale on his house this month. He mentioned he knew as someone just told him.

We sit down and spoke with him and found out that his grandma owned the property and the taxes were not paid for years. It was owed 20K in total liens and there was damage on the side in which the frame wall was open and water was going down from the 2nd floor all the way to the 1st.

It was a slim deal as we had only 2 business days to work and the title of the house was still in his grandma's name. His relatives didn't care about the house and it hasn't gone through probate. After some discussion, I let him know it is a slim chance that I can do something about it but I will do what I can.

Getting back to home and doing research on it I found:

2br/1ba in strong blue collar area
Total Liens: 20K
Repairs: 15-25K (property had electricity, gas, water good; toilet was broken; about 8x8 ft of wall required repairs as water was seeping into the house; comestic work including new rugs and paint).
ARV: 80K

The main issue about the house was that it did not go through probate so the estate of the grandma was not settled. I called a few attorneys and most required at least 1.5K as a retainer.

Afterwards we would want to file bankrupcty 13 to stop the sale of the property or at least negotiate with the plantiff's attorney.

The amount of work with the little time didn't make sense for me to proceed as Bobby didn't get back to us on time. We found out that even if he did the liens was not the only issue but if he was named executor of the estate then he would be required to settle all outstanding debts. He didn't have the mindset to do so at this time.

I went to the auction and the property finally sold for 45K ish. It was incredible how many people wanted to bid high on this. It was a slim margin for net profit.

After the auction, I drove to see Bobby.

He was hunched in the backyard with his friends as called him. He was dejected as he came to me and he said, "I tried calling you but I couldn't get through to you." He murmured that a few more times as I told him that his house was sold. He was looking straight away from me and moving restless as he didn't know what to say. He kept murmuring he called me earlier.

I told him that the house sold and that he has about 1-2 months to move his things. I hoped for the best as he told me he can stay with his friends. It was very sad to see the hurt in his eyes. It was really tough to see that as he lived in that home since he was a baby. Right now because it went to foreclosure he left with NOTHING.

Working in preforeclosures provides the homeowner a solution that they can walk away with dignity and move forward into a new beginning.