Lake Don Pedro, like an untold number of other communities across this nation, is continuing to experience its share of home/property foreclosures.  The Mariposa Gazette newspaper public notice section documents this devastating fact in seemingly never ending columns of small black print containing legal statements, property descriptions, amounts owed, dates and times, and whether there is a required opening bid.

The phrase, “purchased on the courthouse steps” has been referred to recently during  LDPCSD meetings yet unless employed in the real estate industry or personally involved most of us are probably unfamiliar with the process.

On August 18, 2011 at 10am we stopped by the Mariposa County Courthouse to witness this all too common legal process while in route to shoot some video of the Merced River’s travel from Yosemite National Park to Lake McClure.

[NOTE: These video clips are contained under VIDEO on the home page Top Menu Bar. Just hover your cursor over VIDEO and then over “From where we get our water” and click the link for a short video about the Merced River. Yeah I know, the clarity isn’t that great but what can truly capture and reproduce such beauty?]

Anyway, back to the courthouse steps – essentially a representative of the title holder literally stands on the steps of the Courthouse and reads a prepared statement which is very similar to what is printed in the newspaper under Public Notice. They then entertain bids on the property with the typical auction lingo — “going once, going twice…..”.

This process must be verbally spoken out loud regardless if there is a lack of bidders or even human witnesses – so if you ever happen to see someone standing on the courthouse steps speaking out loud to no one, they are not necessarily incapacitated but likely just doing their job. Once completed, the representative telephones the title holder notifying them of the results. When a property does not receive a bid (as in this case) a new auction date can be set and the entire process starts again.

Here’s a short video clip of the Mariposa County Superior Courthouse for those unfamiliar with this piece of California history — 

 “http://www.youtube.com/embed/UwJoQGdDTIk?hl=en&fs=1”   [Yes I know, the clock chime was a bit early but what the heck at least its working!  Last time I was in Mariposa the clock was off by several hours.]

My best to you and yours, Lew