Foreclosure Sales & Adjournments

The Sheriff’s Office of Washtenaw County conducts foreclosure sales by advertisement weekly on Thursdays at the Circuit Court located at 101 E Huron St in Ann Arbor.  However, no sale will be held on any federally recognized holiday, and there are times when a sale does not take place on the date advertised.

Properties to be sold at the Sheriff’s Sale are generally advertised in the Washtenaw County Legal News. Foreclosure sales are scheduled by the foreclosing mortgage holder, or its assignee or attorney, not by the Sheriff’s Office. All sales are subject to cancellation or adjournment, at any time, without notice.  Refer to the advertisement to determine who to contact if you want to know if a sale will proceed or was adjourned. The Sheriff’s Office does not provide this information. 

All sales are conducted by public sale, and you must be registered to bid.  Registration opens at 10:00 A.M. and closes at 10:15 A.M.  To register to bid, you must be present at the sale and have valid identification. 

The sale will begin at 10:15 A.M. and will close immediately once the last property is sold.  Each property will be sold to the highest bidder.  If you tender the highest bid, you must deliver to the Sheriff’s Office, 2201 Hogback Rd in Ann Arbor, a Cashier’s Check made payable to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office for the total amount of your winning bid. The Cashier’s Check must be delivered by noon the day of the sale. If you do not deliver your payment on time, the Sheriff’s Office will: contact the person who made the second highest bid; contact other unsuccessful bidders, in descending bid order; and will proceed to sell the property to one of the bidders or to the financial institution. If you fail to make payment, you will be required to bring full payment to any future sales and pay in full at the time of acceptance of your bid. 

Sale results will not be posted. These deeds are a matter of public record and anyone seeking information about a recorded deed can do so at the Register of Deeds office. 

All properties are sold “AS IS, WHERE IS.”  If you purchase a property, you are responsible for all legal encumbrances on the property, including liens, levies, taxes and additional fees, and the removal of any occupants.  The Sheriff’s Office: does not know if the property is subject to any legal encumbrances or the amount that you will need to pay to discharge any encumbrance; does not know if the property is occupied or vacant; cannot give permission for any prospective bidder to enter and inspect the property or any structure that may be located on the property; and does not have any information regarding the condition of the property.  

If you have any questions that are not answered above, do not contact the Sheriff’s Office and do not come to the sale with the expectation that someone working at the sale will answer your questions.  You should instead obtain answers to your questions prior to registering for the sale from: your attorney or other advisor of your choosing; whomever is identified in the advertisement; or a title company.  The Sheriff’s Office and anyone working for it are not attorneys, they will not provide legal advice, and they did not gather and are not responsible for the accuracy of the any information provided in the advertisement or otherwise provided by the foreclosing mortgage holder or whomever they chose to involve in their foreclosure process.