Anyone ever repurchased their forclosed house?

[Kansas1960]

I once purchased a set of patio furniture at Walmart. I use it for a few months but it broke so I took it back and got a refund. About a week later I saw it had be refurbished and sold at a drastic discount. I purchased it back. I could not have planned this in a million years. I did get to think...what if I had to stop paying my mortgage and had my house forclosed. Would it be possible to buy it back at a deep discount? I am just curious if anyone has ever done this. This is not my situation since I am planning on staying in my home but I am sure many out there are having their homes forclosed that would love to buy them back on the cheap. Please share any stories.

[HHM]

Nice idea, but no.

1. Foreclosure auctions typically require at least 10% cash (or cashiers check) AT THE AUCTION and closing within 30 days. It would be rare indeed that any one in foreclosure could do that.

2. In most states (I think all), the present owner is forbidden from bidding.

[justbroke]

I'm with HHM on this one. In addition to the owner potentially being barred from bidding, the owner's legal recourse in every State where I read the foreclosure law, is via a process called redemption.

In some States, there is no Redemption.

In other States, Redemption can be anywhere from 24 hours to 1 year, to purchase the property back.

I would never bet on being able to do this.

[Genenco]

I'm with HHM on this one. In addition to the owner potentially being barred from bidding, the owner's legal recourse in every State where I read the foreclosure law, is via a process called redemption.

In some States, there is no Redemption.

In other States, Redemption can be anywhere from 24 hours to 1 year, to purchase the property back.

I would never bet on being able to do this.

Agreed and in fact it is something I'd be leery about in buying, imagine you have bought the house, but 11 months later you are forced out of it, because the previous owner made good on everything..

I'd wonder, if the new owners would be upset enough to ...ahem... F*** the house seven ways to sunday...I know I'd be tempted myself...

[Flamingo]

Wouldn't it be nice to live in a perfect world where we could do all the neat things we would like to do...You can bet that any agencies involved with the foreclosure processes have long ago though of people trying to do what you want to do and have all sorts of protections and rules in place to prevent that from happening.

I have seen stories on TV and also in the magazines/papers about folks buying foreclosed homes for friends, relatives and even strangers and allowing the former owners to live in the house and pay rent or buy to again re-own. That might be an option for you if you have someone with enough cash on hand to do that for you and you are able to maintain the rent and the house.

[AngelinaCat]

This may be a bit off topic, but may in some sense apply:

There is a law (or was, if it was repealed) called "The Murphy Lands Act". This was created in 1937, I believe. My family owned a bit of farm land, and of course the home, which was located on it. Because of the Great Depression, and a lot of bank failures, the family lost all of its wealth, as well as some of the land. The rest, they tried desperately to keep, but could not pay the property taxes on it. This went on about ten years. No one else could buy the tax deeds either. Then this Murphy Land Tax law came about and somehow they were able to redeem the land at pennies on the dollar.

I have read on this subject several times, but still cannot fathom how this worked.

I just thought I'd throw it out there.
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