It is strongly recommended that you seek legal counsel to assist and advise you in your endeavor to purchase property at a Sheriff’s Sale.

The Sheriff of Allegheny County or his representatives are not permitted to give legal advice.  

Please read the NOTICES section, lower on this page to make sure that you are up to date with any changes made to sale rules or procedures.

There are times when a sale may be postponed more than once, even if this happens, the sale will still maintain its original sale date and number.  

In a mortgage foreclosure it is usually a total representing the amount of the judgment, taxes and necessary fees that have been paid into the Sheriff to bring the property to sale.

For example:  
Judgment $32,000; Cost (Fees): $1,200; Taxes: $6,000
A third party purchaser may be required to begin the bid at the Sheriff Sale:  $39,200

REMEMBER

You are responsible to have your own title searches.

You are responsible to make sure that the property that you bid on is the property you want.

You are responsible to do your own investigation as to where the property is located.

We do not have keys to the properties.

We do not have pictures of the properties.

We have no other information about a particular parcel of property other than what was provided to us by the attorney representing the plaintiff when the property was originally advertised for sale.  We do not verify or certify the property description information.

Should you be a successful purchaser of property at Sheriff’s Sale, and there is somebody still residing at the property, it is your responsibility to have him or her removed from your property by legal processes.

  Notice   

            Effective December 1, 2007, the following policies and procedures will take effect in regards to Real Estate Sheriff Sales:

 1.      All Sheriff Sales will take place at the regularly scheduled monthly date and  “odd date” sales are eliminated.

 2.      Further, prior to every monthly Sheriff Sale, an announcement shall be made to the public that if the third party bidder does not remit full payment of the bid price and there is no forfeiture, then the Sheriff will re-schedule the sale to the next designated monthly sale date. 

 3.      Notice of all unsuccessful third party bids and the rescheduled sale shall be immediately posted in the Sheriff’s Office and on the Sheriff’s website.

 Change of Conditions of sale Regarding Forfeitures

  When any bidder forfeits his or her deposit because that bidder fails to pay in the balance due on by the date and time required by the conditions of Sale, the property will be relisted for next regular Sheriff’s Sale. The practice of immediately reselling the property in the Sheriff’s Office is ended.

  Effective August 6, 2007 Sheriff Sale and all subsequent sales:

Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office

Real Estate / Civil Division

412-350-4704

412-350-3210

412-350-4739

ATTENTION ALL BIDDERS

If you wish to bid on properties that are being sold at Sheriff’s Sale, you must have at least 10% of your bid at the time of sale in the form of cash, money order or attorney’s check.  You may apply more than 10% deposit required if you choose.

Please be sure that you have the necessary 10% with you at the time of your bid, failure to have the proper amount will result in the property being resold.  We cannot allow you to GO TO THE BANK.

This procedure is necessary in order to continue to conduct the Sheriff’s Sales in an orderly fashion.

When a bidder does not have 10% of their bid at the time of sale, it causes confusion and unnecessary delays in the proceedings.

Remember, all balances of the bid MUST BE PAID IN to the Sheriff’s Office by Friday of the sale week no later than 10:00 A.M.

Failure to pay any balances will result in the forfeiture of your deposit and the property being re-exposed to sale at this time.

NOTICE TO ALL REAL ESTATE AGENTS

When you are representing a client who may be attempting to purchase a parcel of property that may have been foreclosed on by a lender, and sold at Sheriff’s Sale, it is advised that you, on behalf of your client, make sure that the foreclosing lender HAS THE DEED.

There have been many occasions when you have arrived at the closing of a sale only to find out that the foreclosing lender has not paid the Sheriff to process the deed transfer.  This causes many problems.

Although the Sheriff understands your situation and the necessity to have a deed prepared, the deed you may be inquiring about will not be prepared until it is paid for.

Upon receipt of payment, the deed is then placed in its proper order to be prepared.

In many instances, a plaintiff’s representative does not submit payment in a timely fashion thereby causing a serious problem for you and your client.

MAKE SURE THAT THE FORECLOSING AGENCY HAS THE DEED.

NOTICE

Allegheny County DOES NOT have what is commonly known as a REPOSITORY TAX Sale.

Allegheny County DOES NOT have what is commonly known as a TAX CLAIM BUREAU Sale.

The City of Pittsburgh Treasurer does conduct sales of Real Estate in the City of Pittsburgh periodically.

The only direction form that will be accepted are the  forms specifically for the Sale of Real Property.  These forms are available at the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office or on the Internet.  When providing a new address or additional instructions for service, you must always provide the exact sale number.  If this is a postponement, you must provide the original sale number and the month that is postponed to. (ex:  27-Aug-04 PP to Mar 05)

For FORECLOSURE ASSISTANCE Please click link