Foreclosure Sale Not Voided By Inadequate Price

This case involved a dispute between an owner of a property within a homeowners association (“Owner”) and the homeowners association (“Association”) over a non-judicial foreclosure sale conducted by Association against Owner’s property for non-payment of assessments owed to Association by Owner. The non-judicial foreclosure sale conducted by Association resulted in Owner’s property, which was worth about $100,000.00 at the time of the sale, being sold to Association, who happened to be the sole bidder at the sale, for $4,445.90. Owner did not claim any irregularity in the foreclosure proceedings, but sought to have the sale set aside by the court on equitable grounds due to the shockingly low price that the property sold for at the foreclosure sale.

Owner contended that, because he splits his time among several residences that he owns in different states, he never received the required pre-foreclosure notices sent out by Association. He also testified that he thought Association had been dissolved because a check that he had sent to it had been returned.

The trial court found that, although the foreclosure sale price shocked the Court’s conscience, based on prior court precedents, a: