It's a curious, time honored formality that almost always endswith the lender taking back the property. The lender's attorneyreads the foreclosure notice to nobody in particular, word forword from the foreclosure notice in the newspaper ... completewith metes and bounds, lender successions, to-wits and all thosecertain whatevers. People pass by on their way inside thecourthouse, barely noticing the activity on the steps. Little dothey know if they scratch their noses at the wrong time, theycould be purchasing a beachhouse on St. Simons! At times youcan barely hear over the screaming leaf blowers nearby, a wrongly scheduled activity to say the least.
After "crying" the property, the attorney announces the lender's bid and asks if anyone else wishes to bid. "Going once, going twice ... and another bank foreclosure hits the marketplace.
Georgia law allows for non-judicial foreclosure which permits the lender to include a Power of Sale clause in the mortgage documents. This helps the lender bypass the court system (a judicial foreclosure), saving much time and money. In a non-judicial foreclosure, the lender notifies the borrower of default, advertises the property for four consecutive weeks in the official county public notice publication, and then sells the property "at public outcry" on the courthouse steps. (For more information about foreclosure procedures, visit http://www.foreclosurelaw.org/Georgia_Foreclosure_Law.htm ).
There is actually very little drama to the procedure. During my morning visit to the Glynn County courthouse steps on August 4, I observed only a handful of spectators milling around. Most of them were in the real estate business and knew each other by first name. Some came just to observe the process.
From 10:00 a.m. to noon, approximately 30 properties were read. There was only one bidder (other than the lenders) for any property, and he purchased it for a shade over the lender's opening bid. After he counted out $250,000+ in cashiers checks of various denominations, the attorney took his information for title purposes and the transaction was complete. Next!During one reading, the attorney stopped in the middle to take a phone call. I found that a bit disrespectful as someone's "American dream" was being snatched away. Moments later, the legal profession redeemed itself when I sneezed during another reading. Without skipping a beat, the attorney slipped in a polite "has declared said indebtedness God Bless You due and payable ..." That was probably her one chance to ad lib. It was all very civil and orderly, if not a little casual.
The next step will be for the lenders to file foreclosure deeds with the county clerk (see ____ ) . Most of the foreclosed properties will then show up as listings for sale through various Realtors. They will be described as "bank owned", REO (real estate owned), or foreclosed properties. Those are the listings commanding the most attention in the marketplace today due to their distressed nature and reduced pricing. When the foreclosure volume slows down, we may begin to see a recovery in real estate values. Until then, it's a buyer's market.
2 comments:
What a time-worn and useless process. It was set up before the days of nanosecond communication, email, etc. It is quite a sight, and it goes on in all 159 counties across Georgia.
On another facet, it is a shame that there is so much foreclosed property out there. It makes it very hard to establish just what an actual value is and it hurts the sellers who are not in foreclosure. I guess it will take awhile for the market to "correct itself", as they say.
Yes, I agree it will take awhile. We had 40 foreclosures added to inventory last month and only 20 foreclosures sold. This is not a good time to be a seller. Foreclosures are dominating the market and the few active buyers out there are shopping for bargains.
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