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Trustee sale cashier’s check calculator

A trustee does not make change, and you will not know the winning figure until the bidding stops. Enter your maximum bid and this gives you the cashier’s checks to order — one for the opening amount, then checks that double — so you can pay any winning bid up to your maximum, plus what your state’s code says about paying.

Your maximum bid

The most you will pay. $250,000 or 250k both work.

Opening bid (optional)

From the notice or the trustee's sale line.

Cover every bid to within

State (optional)

Adds the payment terms its code sets.

Order 8 cashier’s checks, totalling $174,200

Covers every bid from $1,000 to $174,200, to within $1,000

#1$64,000
#2$47,200
#3$32,000
#4$16,000
#5$8,000
#6$4,000
#7$2,000
#8$1,000

Try a winning bid

Type any bid to see which checks you would hand over.

West Virginia: what the code says about paying

Unless the deed of trust sets its own terms, the code’s default is one third in cash at the sale ($58,066.66 on a $174,200 bid), a third with interest in one year ($58,066.66), and the rest with interest in two ($58,066.68). Most notices do set their own terms — read the notice first.

W. Va. Code § 38-1-5 — the statute’s own words

“one third of the purchase money cash in hand, one third thereof, with interest, in one year, and the residue thereof, with interest, in two years from the day of sale”W. Va. Code § 38-1-5

Before sale day — practice, not law

Call the trustee’s sale line the day before. Sales are postponed often, and the trustee can tell you who the checks must be payable to.
Many bidders make checks payable to themselves and endorse them at the sale, so an unused check goes back into their own account. Confirm the trustee accepts that.
Bring identification, and more than one bank’s checks if your bank limits daily cashier’s checks.

Your maximum bid

The most you will pay. $250,000 or 250k both work.

Opening bid (optional)

From the notice or the trustee's sale line.

Cover every bid to within

State (optional)

Adds the payment terms its code sets.

Enter your maximum bid. You will get the cashier’s checks to order the day before the sale, and which of them to hand over for any winning bid.

Why doubling checks

With checks of $1,000, $2,000, $4,000 and $8,000 you can hand over any whole thousand from $1,000 to $15,000 — the same reason ten binary digits count to 1,023. Put one check for the opening bid underneath, and the doubling checks cover everything between it and your ceiling. The last check is trimmed so the set totals your maximum exactly: you never carry more than you decided to spend.

Worked through: a $180,000 opening bid and a $250,000 ceiling, in $1,000 steps, is 8 checks — $180,000, $32,000, $16,000, $8,000, $7,000, $4,000, $2,000, $1,000. A winning bid of $213,000 is the $180,000 check plus $32,000 and $1,000.

Not sure what your maximum should be? The foreclosure auction max bid calculator works it back from the resale price, and sends the answer here.

The state terms come from the same register as our trustee sale laws by state, quoted from each legislature’s own site. For the rest of the process — registering, the auction itself, and what happens after — see how to buy at a trustee sale.

Questions

How many cashier's checks should I bring to a trustee sale?

Enough to pay any winning bid between the opening figure and your maximum, because the trustee will not make change. One check for the opening amount plus checks that double — $1,000, $2,000, $4,000 and so on — does it with the fewest pieces of paper: a $180,000 opening bid and a $250,000 ceiling takes 8 checks ($180,000, $32,000, $16,000, $8,000, $7,000, $4,000, $2,000, $1,000).

Do I need the full bid amount in cashier's checks?

It depends on the state. In California the trustee can require bidders to show, before bidding, that they can deposit the full amount of the final bid. Washington requires the entire bid from anyone but the lender. Arizona requires a $10,000 deposit to bid and the balance by 5 p.m. the next business day. Where the code is silent, the notice sets the terms.

Who do I make the cashier's checks payable to?

Ask the trustee named in the notice; its sale line will say. Many bidders make the checks payable to themselves and endorse them to the trustee at the sale, so an unused check can be deposited back into their own account — but confirm the trustee accepts that before ordering them.

What happens to a check I do not use, or an overpayment?

An unused check is yours; deposit it back. Because the plan covers a bid to within one step, the checks you hand over can exceed the winning bid by less than that step. How the trustee returns the difference is its own practice, so ask before the sale.

The checks are the easy part.

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