-If the husband only declares bankruptcy in order to postpone the auction can the wife then declare bankruptcy right after the trustee sale-thus creating an issue with you actually entering the property?
-If they declare in the 15 day “grey period” after the sale does this mean you will not be able to evict them?
-How long does a bankruptcy actually postpone an auction? The house we want to buy has been postponed over a year due to Bankruptcy (California).
Also what are your thoughts on visiting the owner the day you buy the property-in this case I would assume they know the date the house is going to auction if they are smart enough to figure out how to postpone it for an entire year (I am sure they are working with an attorney). Since they should know the date would there be any reason not to go to the house the first day?? (in order to try to negotiate the cash for keys).
There are lots of “professional debtors” who know how to work the system w.o. an atty. to do the paperwork for them. It used to be that serial filers could have wife then husband, then wife, then someone else keep filing Bk. Now, if the subject property hits the “third” tie up, there is no automatic stay. The debtor has to get a Judge to sign an order - otherwise the fcl. can go fwd.
IF the RS order permitting the sale to go forward was obtained by a “regular” creditors atty. - he/she would have included in the order that the lender or its successor also has relief to proceed with the eviction. I have never seen that “relief to evict” stayed because the Deed didn’t record in a week or two.
If a new Bk. has been filed, it may or may not trigger a new Stay. A professional debtor can delay a sale for a year. If you read posts here, often it is the banks that simply delay sales even when they don’t have to. Or they don’t bother going to Court in any hurry.
Also, you can review the bankruptcy case in detail. If the Bank has filed a ‘Motion for Release from Automatic Stay’, and it is granted (takes about 2 months, then the bank has the right to foreclose. They can foreclose in the middle of the bankruptcy case if they want to, although they rarely do. They usually wait until about a month after the case is officially closed.
For those who want to track the current status of a bankruptcy filing (and view all related filings), I recommend a subscription to Public Access to Court Electronics Records (PACER). Comes with a modest subscription and “per doc viewed” price tag. But IMO well worth the price.
There is no monthly fee. Just a per doc “viewing” fee (10 cents/page as I recall) and a search fee (if you need to pull up a case number by doing a name search). They bill quarterly -BUT - if your bill totals less than $15 - the charge is waived. It costs nothing to sign up. At least it didn’t when we signed a few years ago.