This past Wednesday, my wife and I went to a foreclosure sale in Überlingen for a house that was being foreclosed on in Markdorf. The appraised value of the house was 280K though my guess was that it would go for around the 300K mark. A house in Markdorf would run you in the viscinity of 400K and my guess was that someone would be willing to pay that price for the house, minus revonation costs (which I guessed would run between 50 and 100K)
However, there were several things which my wife and I thought may affect the price. The house was directly across from a bar. It bordered a street on one side which, while not busy, does get a fair amount of traffic. The access to the garage was a bit tricky and parking for visitors could be difficult. The house was originally build in 1900 though has been renovated several times in the interim. We felt like all these things put together could result in less interest in the house, though it was a small possibility. We bought our current place as a fixer upper at a good price when other people could not see the possibilities of it. But that was a different housing market. The housing market in Markdorf is very hot at the moment.
I was expecting a big turnout and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were finally only 7 bidders on the house. The auction started exactly at 2pm with the man responsible for the bidding giving out some information about the house before starting the bidding process. During this part, he mentions something about a lien on the house of 255K. My German is ok but when it comes to leagalese, I am more lost than usual. But it was not just me that was confused. Some of the other parties are also like "Can you repeat that?" and he clarifies the point: If you are making a bid on the house, you are liable for the outstanding load on 255K that is presently owed on the house.
You think they could've mentioned this in the prospectus. 255K is higher than our highest possible bid. So we are out of the bidding before it begins. In the end, there are bids placed by 4 of the seven parties. One, in a group of three Turkish men who are together, makes an initial bid of 29K for the place. No one places a hgher bid for a very long time. I was almost willing to bet that no one else would bid though no one leaves either. Eventually, an older German couple makes a higher bid.
Then something crazy happens. The person, who owns the house now and who is being foreclosed on, makes a bid. Next, his ex-wife, who is also being foreclosed on, makes a bid. WTF??? The Turkish guy makes a bid and from then on, it is a fight between him and the older German couple. It takes a really long time for the German couple to answer the bids. It is often at the last second. Even on the winning bid, the German couple make a higher bid a second after the bid processis closed. It is a bit wierd that they did not come with an upper limit. But I am the newbie in this process.
The final bit is a little over 50K, which makes the cost of the house a bit over 300K. What I kinda expected. Even though we weren't expecting to get the house, I did feel a bit of disappointment when we left. We had spent a good deal of time and energy visiting the place, figuring out what we would be willing to pay and thinking about logistics in case we won the auction. It was a bit of a letdown.
I feel like this could, at some point, get us a property at below market value. On the other hand, it is significant amount of work for each property. At the very least, we had to take half a day off of work to go to the auction. Which is significant if it comes to naught. Our plan is to keep checking on the properties that come up for auction. New properties are announced at the beginning of every month.
This is one place where they are published:
https://www.zvg-online.net/1100/index.php
However, there were several things which my wife and I thought may affect the price. The house was directly across from a bar. It bordered a street on one side which, while not busy, does get a fair amount of traffic. The access to the garage was a bit tricky and parking for visitors could be difficult. The house was originally build in 1900 though has been renovated several times in the interim. We felt like all these things put together could result in less interest in the house, though it was a small possibility. We bought our current place as a fixer upper at a good price when other people could not see the possibilities of it. But that was a different housing market. The housing market in Markdorf is very hot at the moment.
I was expecting a big turnout and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were finally only 7 bidders on the house. The auction started exactly at 2pm with the man responsible for the bidding giving out some information about the house before starting the bidding process. During this part, he mentions something about a lien on the house of 255K. My German is ok but when it comes to leagalese, I am more lost than usual. But it was not just me that was confused. Some of the other parties are also like "Can you repeat that?" and he clarifies the point: If you are making a bid on the house, you are liable for the outstanding load on 255K that is presently owed on the house.
You think they could've mentioned this in the prospectus. 255K is higher than our highest possible bid. So we are out of the bidding before it begins. In the end, there are bids placed by 4 of the seven parties. One, in a group of three Turkish men who are together, makes an initial bid of 29K for the place. No one places a hgher bid for a very long time. I was almost willing to bet that no one else would bid though no one leaves either. Eventually, an older German couple makes a higher bid.
Then something crazy happens. The person, who owns the house now and who is being foreclosed on, makes a bid. Next, his ex-wife, who is also being foreclosed on, makes a bid. WTF??? The Turkish guy makes a bid and from then on, it is a fight between him and the older German couple. It takes a really long time for the German couple to answer the bids. It is often at the last second. Even on the winning bid, the German couple make a higher bid a second after the bid processis closed. It is a bit wierd that they did not come with an upper limit. But I am the newbie in this process.
The final bit is a little over 50K, which makes the cost of the house a bit over 300K. What I kinda expected. Even though we weren't expecting to get the house, I did feel a bit of disappointment when we left. We had spent a good deal of time and energy visiting the place, figuring out what we would be willing to pay and thinking about logistics in case we won the auction. It was a bit of a letdown.
I feel like this could, at some point, get us a property at below market value. On the other hand, it is significant amount of work for each property. At the very least, we had to take half a day off of work to go to the auction. Which is significant if it comes to naught. Our plan is to keep checking on the properties that come up for auction. New properties are announced at the beginning of every month.
This is one place where they are published:
https://www.zvg-online.net/1100/index.php
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