If you looking at a single property, it would probably be a total waste of your time. There are 3 things that can happen at a sale. The auction can be canceled, postponed, or go to sale. If going to sale, it can sell for higher then you are willing to pay. The opening bid is undisclosed. Usually the bid amount listed is the loan amount. That doesn’t assure you that it will open at that price. It may actually open lower, but don’t get your hopes up. If it is listed under market there will be bidding.
It is cash sale, so you will need to bring cashier’s check for the full amount. Most likely more than the full amount. They will send you the change in a couple weeks.
You are not bidding on a home, you are bidding on the loan. Know that you will need a title company to make sure you are bidding on the senior loan. That is part of the risk. You will need to pay property taxes if overdue. That can be checked on the County Website. A title company can make sure that all other liens are junior to the loan and will be wiped away during the auction. There are IRS liens, but those are not risky.
I would subscribe to foreclosure radar. You can do a lot of research on their site. I would still seek a title company to confirm that you are bidding on the first loan. You can see how many homes go up for auction and how many actually get sold to the public.
That should help you decide if it is worth it. From what I remember about 1 percent of the homes get sold and the other 99 percent are either postponed, cancelled or sold back to the bank. That was also the good old days, I’m sure it’s less then 1 percent today.