Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Sure. Check with the auctioneer to see if you have to bring a certified check for a certain amount. But don't be surprised if the minimum bid is the payoff amount of your mortgage -- if you bid less, your lender will outbid you rather than (in essence) grant you a principal reduction. Call the lender and ask them for the payoff amount and write them a check, this will save you untold foreclosure sale expenses. If the payoff amount is greater than the fair market value of the property, the lender might possibly entertain your all-cash offer to repurchase the property for less than the payoff amount. The lender is unlikely to reduce your principal prior to the sale, due to contractual limitations in a pooling and servicing agreement.

Also, you can stop the foreclosure sale instantly by filing for bankruptcy. Consult a bankruptcy attorney. Don't wait until after the sale.

Yes, if you have the money to pay off the mortgage[s] that are foreclosing. If you had that kind of money, why let it default??

Mr. Stone is exactly right. There is no legal prohibition, but in reality it would never work. The foreclosing lender will bid in a credit against the debt for what it thinks the property is worth as REO after expenses of selling it, with the intention of writing off the rest of the balance. If anyone actually bids higher, that tells the lender the property is worth more than their estimate, so the lender beats that bid, up until the unlikely event that the bidding exceeds the total amount the lender is owed in principal, back interest, fees and everything else they tack on. So for you to be the winning bidder you have to tender every penny you owe, including all back interest, late charges, foreclosure costs, etc. If you have that kind of money, AND the property is worth that and more, why not just pay off the debt before more default and foreclosure fees are added on?

If you have the money to buy your house at foreclosure, then why don't you just pay off the loan by exercising your equity of redemption, rather than risk being outbid?