Getting A Good Price For Your Judgment by Mark Shapiro

At one time or another, almost everyone wants to sell their judgment for cash up front. However, judgments are not cash. A judgment's value is either nothing or unknown, unless the judgment is enforced.

Most judgments are never enforced and expire and become worthless. Yet most judgment owners, especially those with a newly won judgment, tend to believe their judgments are very valuable and can be sold for a high price. This belief wastes a lot of time and causes frustration.

Sometimes, when people try to sell their judgment for cash, it's as if they hope they will find a dumb person (someone who buys without doing due diligence) to buy their judgment for a lot of cash. What they will almost always find is a smart person, that can buy their judgment (after checking the debtor's assets carefully), for a low price.

Anyone buying your judgment will likely perform lengthy due-diligence before making you a firm offer. For a cash sale, the debtor's assets have to be in the USA. With few exceptions, nobody pays more than a few cents on the dollar for most judgments.

When web sites advertise "we pay up to 50%" for judgments, it wastes everyone's time. Such web site advertisements are yet another reason judgment owners spend many hours shopping their judgment with way too many potential judgment buyers. The chances of getting 50% of the face value of your judgment is similar to your chances of buying a big-winning lottery ticket.

On average, judgments are sold for 1-3% of their face value for reasons which include the economy, the ability of the debtor to file for bankruptcy, the difficulty and expense of enforcing judgments, and the usual lack of assets of the debtors behind the judgments.

Some judgments may be worth much more than 2%. The wrong way to get more than 2% is to contact every judgment buyer you can find. It makes sense to contact more than one potential judgment buyer. However, if you lose track of which potential judgment buyers you have contacted, you are over-shopping.

The right way to get a higher sales price for your judgment is to document why your judgment is worth more. Prepare a list of the debtor's assets, or pay a private investigator to do an asset check on your debtor. An impressive list of debtor assets will vastly increase the price someone will be willing to pay for your judgment.

When you contact a judgment buyer, keep everything related to your judgment organized. Include a copy of the judgment, the proof of service, everything you know about the debtor, and every asset or hint of the debtor's assets.

You can look for judgment buyers on the web, but often you are better off with a judgment listing service. A judgment listing service saves you a lot of time and work, and exposes your judgment to many judgment purchasers. If you use a judgment listing service, try to find one with low or no listing, or other fees.