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Due diligence before you bid: the buyer's checklist

At a trustee sale you buy a property as-is, with no inspection period, no financing contingency, and no title insurance at the moment of purchase. Everything you will ever know about the deal, you must learn beforehand. This checklist is the research routine experienced Bay Area buyers run on every property.

1. Confirm the sale itself

• Pull the recorded Notice of Trustee Sale from the county clerk-recorder (or a title source) and read it yourself: auction date, time, venue, trustee, trustee sale number, and the foreclosing loan. Aggregated listings — including Cingore's — are research starting points; the recorded notice is the authority.
• Identify which loan is foreclosing. The NOTS references the deed of trust being foreclosed (recording date and instrument number). That single fact drives the entire analysis, because it determines what survives your purchase.
• Verify status the morning of the sale. Postponements and cancellations are routine. Trustees publish sale-status phone lines and websites; use them before traveling.

2. Title and lien position — the make-or-break step

• Order a title search / preliminary title report. You are looking for everything recorded against the property: all deeds of trust, tax liens, judgment liens, mechanics liens, HOA liens, and lis pendens.
• Determine lien priority. Generally, priority follows recording order. If the foreclosing lien is senior, junior liens are wiped out by the sale. If it is junior, every senior lien survives — along with its balance, which is effectively added to your purchase price.
• Check for IRS liens. A federal tax lien noticed before the sale gives the IRS a 120-day right to redeem the property after the sale. Plan cash and improvements around that window.
• Look for delinquent property taxes. Unpaid taxes ride with the property regardless of lien games. County tax-collector records are public and searchable by APN.

3. Occupancy — know what you are inheriting

• Drive by and observe. Signs of life — vehicles, curtains, maintained yards, trash service — suggest occupancy. You may look from public streets; you may not trespass, open mail, or misrepresent yourself to occupants.
• Former owner, tenant, or squatter? Each status carries different rights and timelines after the sale. Tenants in particular have state and sometimes city-level protections, and the SB 1079 post-sale window may apply to them. Budget time and money for lawful possession — often a negotiated cash-for-keys — not for a same-week move-in.
• Never assume vacancy from a quiet house. The costliest beginner error in this business is winning a "vacant" property that isn't.

4. The property itself — from the sidewalk

• There is no interior access. You generally cannot inspect inside before the sale. Assess roof, siding, windows, foundation lines, and additions from outside, and price in the unknown explicitly.
• Verify size and permits with the county. Compare assessor records (beds, baths, sqft, year built) against what you see. Additions in older Bay Area housing are frequently unpermitted, and unpermitted area can be excluded from appraisals and financing later.
• Check zoning and overlays. Flood zones (with their insurance requirements), high fire-severity zones, airport noise zones, and historic overlays all affect carrying cost and resale.

5. HOA, taxes, and carrying costs

• HOAs survive in part. Delinquent HOA dues and assessments can attach as liens with their own priority rules, and ongoing dues start accruing to you immediately. In condo-heavy markets (San Francisco, downtown San Jose), identify the association, its dues, rental caps, and any litigation or special assessment if you can.
• Supplemental and special taxes. Newer subdivisions (eastern Contra Costa, Solano, south Santa Clara) often carry Mello-Roos or similar special taxes that survive any sale.
• Insurance availability. In fire-zone counties (Marin, Napa, Sonoma, and hillside pockets everywhere), confirm the property is insurable at a sane premium before bidding. This is now a first-order cost input, not an afterthought.

6. Set your number — in writing

• Work backward from value. Estimate after-repair value from comparable sales, subtract rehab, holding, selling, and surprise costs, and subtract any surviving senior debt. The result is your maximum bid — written down before the auction.
• Price the information gap. You have not seen the interior, the occupants' situation is uncertain, and the title picture is a snapshot. Your discount must pay for those unknowns, or the auction regulars — who price them ruthlessly — will win the property at a number that only works for them.
• Know when the right move is no bid. Most properties, most weeks, do not clear a disciplined buyer's bar. The checklist's real product is the confidence to walk away.

Educational only — not legal, financial, or investment advice. Title status, lien priority, and occupancy rights are fact-specific; for a live purchase, use a title company and a California real-estate attorney.