What is a Power of Sale Property?

In Ontario when a borrower defaults on a home mortgage, the bank/lender most often attempts to recover its losses by selling the property using the Power of Sale clause contained in the mortgage.  Due to legal fees, foregone interest and other property expenses, the estimated losses to the bank for Power of Sale properties can range from 10 percent to 30 percent of the outstanding loan balances.  There are other variables that can affect the losses or costs when a property is sold via power of sale such as the deterioration of the property and the time it takes to process the paperwork.

Definition of Power of Sale:  A clause commonly inserted in a mortgage and deed of trust that grants the creditor or trustee the right and authority, upon default in the payment of the debt, to advertise and sell the property through any means at it’s disposal, usually MLS in Ontario or at public auction, without resorting to a court for authorization to do so.

Once the creditor is paid out of the net proceeds, the property is transferred by deed to the purchaser, and the surplus, if any, is returned to the debtor.  The debtor is thereby completely divested of any interest in the property and has no subsequent right of redemption (recovery of property by paying the mortgage debt in full).

Power of Sale and Tax Sale properties – questions and answers

You may wish to learn more and read a very detailed analysis of Power of Sale Properties

You will often see advertisements about Court Auctions, Pre-Forclosures, Homeowners in Bankruptcy, HUD Homes, VA Homes, Government homes and similar sounding wording.  In my experience, some of these types of investment property opportunities come out of the US and are not as common here in Ontario.  In our trading area, most of the POS, Tax Sale properties or foreclosure properties are put on the MLS.  The reason for this is that our provincial laws are very strict about the procedure and marketing of a power of sale property and the company or person who is initiating the power of sale must do their best to obtain what is called TRUE market value as opposed to fair market value for the property, otherwise if the property is sold too far under TRUE market value, the owner could sue them for the difference.

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Read more about Tax Sale Properties.