Questions to ask before you bid

A title company and a Pennsylvania real-estate attorney can answer what a general guide can’t: what applies to the property you’re looking at. These questions are a starting point.

For a title company

• Can you search this property’s records before the sale, and how long does that take?
• What mortgages, liens and judgments are recorded against it?
• Are there City claims on record, such as taxes, water and sewer, or code enforcement?
• Are there federal tax liens?
• Which of the recorded debts would this kind of sale clear, and which could stay with the property?
• Will you insure title after a sheriff’s deed? If not right away, when, and on what conditions?
• What will the search and the title insurance cost?

For a real-estate attorney

• Is this a tax sale or a mortgage foreclosure sale, and what does that change for me?
• Can the owner or anyone else redeem the property after the sale? For how long?
• Could the sale be set aside after I win? What happens to my payments then?
• If the property is occupied, what does ejectment involve, and how long does it take?
• Should I buy in my own name or another name? What do the Sheriff’s assignment and certificate of compliance rules require?
• What happens if the sale is postponed or stayed after I’ve registered or placed my deposit?

For the Sheriff’s Office or Bid4Assets

• Which Conditions of Sale apply to this sale date, and is the deposit deadline the one I’ve read?
• What is this property’s status today?

The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office lists its contacts on its website.