Lenders Refusing To Bid At Foreclosure Sales Leaves Homeowners On The Hook For Housing Court Citations

In Cleveland, Ohio, National Public Radio reports on what reportedly is a growing practice by lenders at Cuyahoga County sheriff sales of refusing to bid on their own foreclosures:

• [W]hen there's no bid, the lender can either try to sell at another sheriff sale or do nothing. Doing nothing means the foreclosure is not complete. And Cleveland foreclosure attorney Larry Rothenberg says doing nothing is becoming more popular.

• "Lately, lenders are finding that the costs to purchase property at the sheriff sale and resell it, and the likelihood of finding a buyer weigh against a decision to buy the property. And so it's become more likely than before that lenders are not entering bids at sheriff sales," Rothenberg says.

***

• [Foreclosed homeowner Sharon Little] found out her name was still on the deed only when she got a summons last October to appear in housing court. [...] Cleveland Housing Court officials say they are now seeing homeowners take matters into their own hands. Little, for instance, wrote up a deed and gave her house to her lender. "That's because it was their house from the jump, so that's what we do — give it right back to them. You can keep your house. I don't want it," Little says.

For more, see Banks Refusing To Take Back Foreclosed Properties.

Go here for other posts on code violation & other problems associated with homes in legal limbo. responsibility code violations foreclosure