Foreclosure auctions are common occurrence in many counties and towns. This does not come as a surprise because the number of residential foreclosures keeps rising every day. And because auctions are the final foreclosure process, you can find almost all types of properties on the sale block. You must know that foreclosure auction laws differ from one state to another. In some states, you will observe the presence of local law enforcement officers during the bidding process. This does not mean that there some legal problems concerning residential foreclosures being auctioned off. This is what is called as the sheriff auction. Understanding the Foreclosure Process: Just an overview, foreclosure happens when the owner was unable to pay his monthly mortgage despite the notices of default and grace period given by the lender. As agreed by the owner when he took out a loan from the lender, his property will be foreclosed by the lender on the event that he reneged on his payment obligation. If given a choice, lenders do not want to foreclose on properties. Foreclosure does not only affect the homeowners, but also lenders who end up losing their investments. Foreclosing the property and selling it at a lower price is the only option lenders have to recover their investments. Foreclosure Bidding: You can go to your local county government office or check newspapers for listings of residential foreclosures to be auctioned. Or if you want it the easy way, you can subscribe to foreclosure listings. Having chosen the foreclosure property from listings, you have only accomplished half of the tasks needed to make sure that you are bidding on a good deal. There is still the need to set the amount that you would be spending to bid on the property of your choice. Another thing to do is to arrange an ocular inspection of the foreclosed house. Determining the repairs that need to be done on the property to make it habitable and to boost its value as well as the estimated cost of the work are very important to make sure that you are not going over your budget.