Hi Chani,

As Damon pointed out, there can be other senior liens or factors that make a property unattractive to outside bidders unless they can grab it for a bargain. That alone often explains why the competition dries up quickly.

Looking at the auction log, you’ll notice what happened here: one person tossed in a $1,000 “fishing” bid, another tried $50,000, and someone else went up to $100,000 but couldn’t keep competing. Meanwhile, because Volusia County uses the RealAuction system, the plaintiff (the foreclosing lender) had already placed a maximum bid, in this case $813,000, which is basically their credit bid close to the judgment. RealAuction’s mechanics mean the lender wins at $100 above the last live bidder. So while the site may show $50,100 as the “winning bid,” it doesn’t mean the plaintiff literally bought the house for that. It’s a bookkeeping entry, the property reverts to the plaintiff because no one met or beat their judgment amount.

The low number is just how the system records it when the plaintiff takes the property back. They don’t “get a $1.17m house for $50,100”, they already had a claim worth $830k and simply used that as credit to keep the property.