By Bryan West | 12 News
Foreclosures generally don’t have an upside. But more than 1,000 owners who lost their metro Phoenix properties may be eligible to get back thousands of dollars in cash.
Rising home prices mean that houses taken back by lenders are selling for much more — sometimes more than what the borrowers owed. Excess proceeds of sale occur when a foreclosed property goes to auction and sells for more than the amount owed on it.
After the lender is paid off, the remaining money goes to the Maricopa County Treasurer’s Office. It remains there for three years.
Homeowners associations, second-mortgage lenders and any others who have a stake in the property can file a claim for the money — as can the people who owned the house on the day it was foreclosed. If no one claims the money after three years, it goes to the state of Arizona.
