The math on a Tennessee foreclosure: trustee sale vs cash offer vs marketed auction

The math. One Tennessee house. Three ways out. Scroll. One number at a time.

Say your house is worth $500,000.

You still owe the bank $300,000.

The difference is your equity. $200,000. Yours. On paper, anyway.

Exit one · Do nothing. The trustee sale takes about 60 seconds on the courthouse steps. The house typically goes for what's owed on it.

What you walk away with: $0. Occasionally a surplus exists. Most people get nothing.

Exit two · The cash buyer. The investor calling you will offer around 65 cents on the dollar. About $325,000. That's the offer, not what you keep.

After your loan pays off, you keep about About $25,000.

Exit three · A marketed auction. A licensed, advertised auction typically clears 85 to 95 percent of retail. About $445,000. Run before the trustee sale date, not after.

After payoff and costs, what goes home with you: About $130,000. Same house. Same debt. Different exit.

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