Data sources & methodology
Every figure on this site is one of three kinds, always labeled: a county record (scraped from the sheriff's official listing), RealEstateAPI data (a nationwide property-records aggregator), or a Sheriff Scout model (our computation — formula and inputs always shown). Nothing here is an appraisal, a title search, or legal advice.
County records — refreshed daily (~6:30am ET)
Sale date, case number, plaintiff/defendant, attorney, address, parcel (UPI), judgment amount, and status come directly from each county's official listing. Statuses (postponed / stayed / cancelled) change up to sale day.
| County | Listing source | Opening-bid source |
|---|---|---|
| Lancaster | Lancaster County Sheriff sale listings | lancaster.pa.realforeclose.com |
| York | York County Sheriff attorney portal | york.pa.realforeclose.com |
| Dauphin | Dauphin County Sheriff portal | not published in advance |
| Berks | Berks County Sheriff sale portal | Bid4Assets (cost-only starting bid) |
| Chester | Chester County sheriff sales on Bid4Assets | Bid4Assets |
Dauphin sales are in person (no online bidding); opening bids there are announced at the sale. Berks' published bids are cost-only starting bids — the foreclosing plaintiff can still credit-bid up to its judgment, so we never treat them as a likely purchase price. Chester's auctions open at a token $1, which we don't display. "Upset price" style figures are generally only known at/near sale day.
RealEstateAPI property data
Valuation (AVM), open mortgages, mortgage/sale history, owner and occupancy, beds/baths/sqft, taxes, and coordinates come from RealEstateAPI, fetched per property (date shown on each listing). Honest caveats:
· The AVM value is a model estimate, not an appraisal — condition-unaware, so distressed properties often appraise below it.
· Mortgage figures are original recorded amounts, not current payoff balances.
· Lien/judgment flags come from a national database that misses county-level (Prothonotary) filings — "none reported" is not clear title.
Sheriff Scout models
Title position — we match the foreclosing plaintiff against the property's open recorded mortgages (name matching plus a judgment-to-loan amount check, using recorded lien positions; HOA and municipal/tax-claim plaintiffs are detected by name). Output is a screening signal: 1st senior, 1st? likely senior, JR junior (senior debt may survive), TAX municipal/tax claim, ? unknown. Assignments and trustee foreclosures often hide the link — only a title search is definitive.
Rehab — a $/sqft tier model with no inspection: light $20/sqft (built ≥2000, owned <10y), medium $35/sqft (default), heavy $55/sqft (built <1940, owned >20y, or vacant); ±30–40% range shown.
Potential profit = AVM value − purchase basis − rehab − 8% selling/holding − senior debt that may survive. Purchase basis is a published opening bid when it's upset-style (≥40% of judgment), else the judgment — actual auction prices are set by bidding and can exceed both. Each listing shows this as a line-by-line table.
Built for screening: the goal is to tell you which sales are worth your own diligence, not to replace it.