Fearless at foreclosure auction

More than 20% of properties purchased at foreclosure auction are going to owner-occupant buyers, including first-time homebuyers eager to find affordable housing options.

“This will be the house we get to bring our baby home to,” said Hannah Joslin, referring to a Fort Worth, Texas, property she and her husband purchased at foreclosure auction in Tarrant County in March 2026. “I was tearing up because this is my first home.”

Both buyer survey data and foreclosure auction sales data, when matched to public record tax assessor data, show an increasing share of owner-occupant foreclosure auction buyers like Joslin and her husband.

One in five foreclosure auction buyers are owner-occupants

Eighteen percent of Auction.com buyers described themselves as owner-occupant buyers in a survey of more than 400 buyers in February 2026. That was down from a peak of 26% in the previous year, but the owner-occupant share of survey respondents has been steadily trending higher since 8% in 2022, the first time the buyer survey was conducted.

An analysis of Auction.com foreclosure auction sales data in 2025, matched against public record tax assessor data — which includes owner-occupancy status — shows that 27% of the properties that have not been resold by the auction buyer are owner-occupied.

The percentage is 20% for all foreclosure auction purchases from 2015 through 2025. This suggests that about one in five properties purchased at a foreclosure auction is occupied by the buyer.

Consistent with the Auction.com survey data, the public record-based owner-occupancy share has increased over time, from a low of 12% for 2015 purchases to a peak of 29% for 2021 purchases — at the height of the pandemic housing boom and the low in home affordability.

Coming up with cash

The rise in owner-occupants buying at foreclosure auctions may be somewhat surprising, given that these purchases are typically all-cash homebuying transactions with no inspection available before purchase. But owner-occupants like the Joslins are finding ways to come up with the cash.

“We were telling some family friends about it … and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s a great home, … we have the means to lend to you so that you can make the offer on it,’” said Joslin. “They were very generous, very kind, lent us the money that we needed to make the offer.”

Other owner-occupant buyers can tap their savings to buy at the auction with cash.

“I’d read a little bit about auctions but really didn’t know,” said Blair Berry, an owner-occupant buyer who purchased a property at foreclosure auction in August 2025 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to be close to her two new grandchildren.

Berry first learned about the Thursday auction three days before, on Monday. “So, I spent Tuesday just reading about it and thinking about it, and by Tuesday night, I was not sure. And then I talked to my financial guy on Wednesday, and he said, ‘I think you should go for it.’”

From short sale to foreclosure auction

The Joslins first considered foreclosure auctions after Hannah’s dad suggested that option earlier in their home search.

“He’s like, ‘You guys should look at foreclosures because you can … get a really good price on homes,’” she said, noting that the couple didn’t seriously explore the option at the time when they learned most foreclosure auctions require cash payment on the spot.

But then they fell in love with a house that drew them back to considering a foreclosure auction purchase.

“It was a short sale, and we placed an offer on it, and it wasn’t accepted, but we went ahead and got the contract drafted with the seller, and then they decided to withdraw and just go to foreclose,” Joslin said. “We already kind of mentally moved in, if you will, because we’d already placed that offer. So then when it fell through, we were super bummed.

“When the opportunity arose that we could actually try to buy it at auction, we’re like, okay, sweet,” she added.

Expectant at auction

Joslin’s husband wasn’t able to attend the auction because he was out of town for work, so she went with her real estate agent and father-in-law in tow. Joslin was about 11 weeks pregnant at the time of the auction. 

“I got to the auction, and there were a lot of people there, and it was kind of overwhelming because even though I had done a bunch of research and generally knew what to expect, it was still just the first time I’d done anything like that,” Joslin said. “It was kind of a lot.

“I found the Auction.com table, got registered for the auction, and they were just super sweet,” she continued. “They answered all of our many questions and kind of gave me some pointers and pointed me in the right direction and told me who to be listening to and kind of what the process would look like.”

Joslin was able to observe about a dozen properties go up for auction before her property was cleared for bidding. She sent a quick text to her husband: “It’s game on.”

She started bidding, submitted the highest bid and then heard the auctioneer declare her the winner.

“It was so exciting,” she said. “One of the (Auction.com staff)… she was so excited. She was, like, jumping up and down. She gave me a hug because I was, like, tearing up because I just bought my first home.”

Joslin sent a coy text to her husband, who was in a meeting with the CEO of his company: “Hey, call me if you’re able.”

He called back about 10 minutes later.

“Guess what?” she answered.

“What?”

“We’re homeowners.”

“No way.”