An illegal but all too common practice in foreclosure auctions, is hard to spot except in a recent incident which was loud and blatant.
A recent auction day in San Mateo County brought out a homeowner about to lose her house.
She brought with her the local media, ten Occupy protesters, and her son in a business suit. Now, none of this is technically illegal, however what happened next was. Her son waited for the property to be called out by the auctioneer. He then proceeded to read a long statement about the house, warning investors against bidding and noting all sorts of personal matters as encumbering the property.
Furthermore, after listening to the Occupy protesters, it became immediately obvious that they had been duped. They were yelling about little old ladies losing their family hovels in poor neighborhoods, when this particular homeowner was about to lose a four million dollar mansion in the Hillsborough foothills that she had got from her former boyfriend. Deceptive at best;
In the end, the homeowner and her family clearly did not understand the foreclosure process, nor her rights. A simple bankruptcy filing could have staved off foreclosure and given her time to rearrange her life. Indeed, the idea that shouting down the auctioneer would prevent the auction is naive, when the first bid is always by the bank anyway: the house leaves her hands regardless of whether the bank acquiresit or a third party investor bids higher and captures it.