Sherriff sale what is it exactly. We don't have it here.

Follow up to my collections post: many of you mention sherriff's sale What exactly is it? As you can see we do not have it here, they use a lien and you can foreclose, though not sure on small amounts like small claims.

I believe the law has run its coarse on someone who owes a lot of money on goods and chattles and the municipality is involved to the extent that the sherriff is empowered to hire an auctioneer and sell off goods until enough money is raised to pay off creditors. Here we have "tax" sales whereby perons who owe three or more years taxes on their property can have their property sold, the taxes owing deducted and given the balance.
Penny auctions were held in the depression years of the 30's. It was a sherriffs sale, but people were so poor and had no money, if a neighbour was being forced out all the neighbourhood would come to the sale and bid in pennies...ie a walking plow for two cents , a draft horse for three cents, a calf for a penny....the sherriff had no choice but to accept the highest bid..the neighbours then all went home and left their purchases there on the spot...they saved their neighbour's chattles, dispensed his debt for pennies..knowing that their neighbours would so the same for them if they fell into forclosure or sherriff's sale..kinda interesting history the Great Depression....kind like today huh?

here in nm, the sheriff's sale is where they dispose of leftovers, it can be retired patrol units, or impounded cars ect that they are stuck with due to either owners being locked up for extended time with no person to claim them or abandoned vehicles, it can also contain stuff like recovered household items recovered from burgurlars arrested, but after the court procedings was never claimed by the rightfull owners, property involved like real estate is usually auctioned off at the courthouse in the county seat here, and is not done by the sheriff's dept or local police dept

You know, I don't see many people giving up their cable TV, cell phones, and so on? Most 'hardships' are wondering if unemployment checks will be extended byond a year or not, before one has to take a job 'beneith' them.

Seems we really aren't belt tightening all that much.

Mom talked about cutting the eyes out of seed potatoes, boiling the rest for a meal, planting only the eyes. I think that was hardship back then. Don't think we know what it really is now????

For the most part. I know there's some worse off than that, but - for the most part.....

--->Paul

Each state has different rules for this. Here at least there are sheriff sales and master comissioner sales which are essentially the same thing. If you have an unpaid tax bill with a lein on property, or have a court ordered payment that hasnt been received then the property or tax bill is advertised for sale for 2 weeks in the local paper. Then the sheriff or court comissioner sells the item at 10 am on the steps of the courthouse to the highest bidder. If you are the person who has been awarded damages are the high bidder you now posess the property in question and can have the 'former' owner evicted.

I've had to use the provision on occassion to sell horses that people have boarded and failed to pay their bill. It gives me legal title to the animal to then sell as I can.

If its a tax bill or something it pays 12 percent interest from the day you purchase the bill until the property is sold. It usually takes another 2 years or so of legal action to get the property auctioned.

If you have a judgment against someone, you can "execute" the judgment against the debtor's non-exempt real or personal property. Its most common in states with "judicial" real estate foreclosure laws- that is, in the 23 or so states that require the lender to file an action in court, rather than just serve and publish foreclosure notice ("non-judicial foreclosure") and then have a private party sell the property "on the courthouse steps".

Don't see many Sheriff's sales any more, in states with non-judicial foreclosure. The exemption laws are generous enough that most folks don't have any non-exempt property to execute against, and if they do, they usually try to sell it, borrow against it, or just deed or convey it to the judgment holder rather than incur additional costs and negative credit score impact of going to court.

Tax sale is a completely different animal- the county Treasurer is empowered to sell property at auction, free and clear of liens, if property taxes go more than 3 years delinquent. Sheriff has nothing to do with it. What with all the publicity on late night TV, not many bargains at tax sales anymore. The days of buying a house for $312.98 in back taxes are long past.

I had a judgement on a fellow years ago, saw he had a farm sale comming up, went to the sheriffs office and they looked up the judgement. The sheriff dep went to the sale and would not let it start untill the judgement was paid in full at the courthouse. The auctioneer went and paid it himself and deducted the amount he paid the guy from the sale proceeds. Auctioneer was mad but we got paid.

Hi Michael: Property taxes not paid are handeled differently in most states from what I/ve read. In MN it takes about 7 years non payment on a home before the county could get it back at the earliest. In Arizona, one Winter, I checked into it a little. There one can pay the taxes and then inform the owner of record that they need to now pay you plus interest or you get the property.. Back in MN I bought about 20 empty building sites near the NWest end of the Lake Minnetonka area. I spent most of the Winter learning at lot before jumping in. I bought a copy of local zoning codes. almost 25 large plat maps. Copies of most of the "As-Built" sewer and water lines and etc.. etcc.. before buying most of those 20 building sites.. Plus I had records of soil cnditions etc.. I made good $$$ on over 15 site and small gains on 3 and broke even on 2.
It was sorta like a "game" to me at first. It sure kept me busy from Dec to mid Feb a couple Winters and it padded my retirement fund more then any bank or stock market could have.. Summary? I repeated by buying about 15 more later on. So.. Tax forfit property is well worth looking into if you have time during normal business hours to search Court House and City Hall etc for info.. and a good understanding of Real Estate in that area.. and it HAS TO BE a "GOOD GROWTH" Area. ag