KatysBlog

San Jose Superior Court Back Door

House Auction in Progress

House Auction in Progress

Through a combination of complex circumstances, one of our neighbors lost
his house, back to the bank that holds his
mortgage. Over the
last year, we have watched this drama unfolding. We are sad for our
neighbor but also interested in how these things actually work.

For months, realtors have been bringing people by to see the neighbor’s
house as its price fell from almost one million dollars to about half that.
Some of the realtors and potential buyers came to talk with neighbors,
others just went into the empty house and out without a word. We watched
the entry on the Silicon Valley real estate
MLSListings change as the price dropped.

Last month, two “Notice of Trustee’s Sale” sheets of paper were taped to
the front door, saying in six languages:

“YOU ARE IN DEFAULT UNDER A DEED OF TRUST DATED XXXX. UNLESS YOU TAKE
ACTION TO PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY, IT MAY BE SOLD AT PUBLIC SALE. IF
YOU NEED AN EXPLANATION OF THE NATURE OF THE PROCEEDING AGAINST YOU,
YOU SHOULD CONTACT A LAWYER.

A public auction sale to the highest bidder for cash, (cashier’s check(s)
must be made payable to National Default Servicing Corporation) …
will be held by the duly appointed trustee as shown below, of all right,
title, and interest conveyed to and now held by the trustee in the hereinafter
described property under and pursuant to a Deed of Trust described below.
The sale will be made in an “as is” condition, but without covenant or
warranty…

NOTICE OF SALE

PURSUANT TO SECTION 2924.8 OF THE CIVIL CODE

Foreclosure process has begun on this property, which may affect your right
to continue to live in this property. Twenty days or more after the date
of this notice, this property may be sold at foreclosure. …”

The papers referred to a web site of the
National Default Servicing
Corporation which says about itself:

“NDSC performs Foreclosures, Bankruptcies, Evictions, Deeds in Lieu and a host of other default related services nationwide from our Phoenix headquarters.

At NDSC, our reputation is synonymous with honesty, integrity and the desire to provide our clients with success oriented nationwide default servicing, as well as the most accurate, efficient and timely California and Nevada Trustee’s Sale available in the market place. Our goal is to exceed our client’s expectations through unsurpassed customer service, innovative technology, and in-depth mortgage servicing knowledge and experience.”

This week, our neighbor’s property came up for public auction. We
were curious, so we went to see what happened. It was cold and windy
and the three auctioneers had to hold onto all of their papers tightly.
Each auctioneer was from a different company. They stood apart from each
other, against different sections of the black iron gate and arch of the
San Jose Superior Court building. Technically, this sale was “on
the courthouse steps” but actually we were at the back of the court building. The real courthouse steps are usually crowded with potential jurors waiting
to go through security screening.

The auctioneers spoke their formal notice statements quickly but loudly
so that everyone could hear. During a sale, bidders stood near the
auctioneer very quietly saying the amount they bid. Some of the bidders
would wait to raise a bid until
just after the auctioneer said “For the third time of asking, the final
bid is …”. There were maybe a dozen people standing around the auctioneers,
both active bidders and the interested public. Some of the bidders knew
the auctioneer and each other; they talked about prior sales and
congratulated each other on wins. Other bidders seemed to be interested
in just one house. Dozens of houses came up for sale in the hour we watched.

Many sales were postponed or canceled, some houses were returned to the
beneficiary (the mortgage holder?) because no one made the minimum bid.
Still others attracted spirited bidding ending in a sale. Payment
was immediate – bidders carried stacks of cashier’s checks. How different
from the drawn out disclosure and document signing process that goes with
normal property sales here. Our neighbor’s house sale was postponed until
next month “by mutual agreement”.

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Two years ago, I wrote about the delightful

Dread Pirate family board game. This is to recommend
another excellent game:
Settlers of Catan. Settlers was first published in 1995 in Germany
by Klaus Teuber, available from Kosmos. My
daughter Jessica and her
boyfriend Matt started playing it last year, then brought Settlers to family
camp in August. Settlers was a big hit, with players from ages ten to fifty
having a very good time. During our family’s week at the

Lair of the Golden Bear, we played Settlers, Dread Pirate, Wheel & Deal,
hearts, or poker most nights.

Jessica and Matt gave our son Paul his own Settlers game set
for his birthday. We have played it several times after Paul’s homework
is done. It takes a few games to develop a feel for strategy and rules.
John and Paul and I played last night; it took several turns for me
to realize I already had enough points to win!

What I like about Settlers is its focus on trading and relationships.
In an
Interview with Klaus Teuber, the game designer said:

“I was always fascinated by the Vikings and their exploratory journeys. One widely held view of the Vikings is that they were marauding and violent hordes descending on Europe. Another side of the story is that in many places where Vikings settled they actually built progressive and peaceful societies as well as sophisticated trading systems. They were the first European explorers to leave the security of the coast and sail out into the open ocean, which led them to discover and settle Iceland, Greenland and Northern America.”

My 16-year-old son Paul particularly enjoys smash-’em-up and shooter video games.
For example, he likes the science fiction shooter game
“Halo” and
a disturbingly fun and popular video game called
“Pain”. In Pain
“Gamers attempt as much damage to themselves as possible by flinging themselves from a rubber-band catapult.” Fortunately, Paul also loves
“Zoo Tycoon”, a
business simulation video game. Zoo Tycoon rewards both creative and
constructive behavior and wild destructive behavior. Players make money and
get awards for building a successful zoo (but once the zoo is built, the tycoon
can lock the gates and drop the fences to let the carnivores eat the tourists).

Settlers is a well-designed board game in which there are consequences for
smash-’em-up behavior. For example, last night I was slowly building a road
from one of my settlements (in a wood, wheat, bricks resource area) to an area
on the other side of the board where I could win other kinds of resources
(sheep and rocks). Paul intentionally blocked my progress by adding his own
road in my path. So, I refused to trade him resources he needed for several
turns. Eventually, Paul started offering me very favorable trades
in order to reestablish his reputation. I like this game!

Dread Pirate was published in 2003. The Settlers of Catan was published in 1995. Wheel & Deal was published in 1967. More about these and other
board games is available on
BoardGameGeek. Photos:

Settlers of Catan

Dread Pirate

Wheel & Deal

Images Copyright 2008 Katy Dickinson