The real estate investment landscape offers numerous opportunities for institutional investors, from REITs to commercial properties. But one corner of the market has remained stubbornly opaque: the billions of dollars in unclaimed surplus equity sitting in county courthouses across America.
For years, this market has been the domain of small-scale operators who manually scour court records. It's labor-intensive, legally complex, and nearly impossible to scale. Until recently, no institutional-grade platform existed to bring transparency and structure to this opportunity.
That's exactly what Milan CM set out to change.
When a foreclosed property sells at auction for more than what's owed to lenders and creditors, the difference belongs to the former homeowner. This surplus equity is held by the court, trustee, or state program until the rightful owner claims it. The problem? Most people never do.
According to ATTOM's latest data, foreclosure filings were reported on 367,460 U.S. properties in 2025, up 14% from 2024. Despite strong home equity positions nationwide—with an average loan-to-value ratio of just 44.2%—over 87% of homeowners currently in foreclosure still have positive equity. The pool of unclaimed surplus continues to expand.
The Supreme Court's unanimous ruling in Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023) reinforced that this surplus belongs to the homeowner, period. Yet millions in surplus equity go unclaimed every year, creating a unique market opportunity at the intersection of legal complexity, data fragmentation, and operational inefficiency.
The challenge isn't just that surplus equity goes unclaimed; the data is scattered across thousands of jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction has its own filing systems, timelines, and compliance requirements.
A foreclosure in Los Angeles County follows different rules than one in Cook County, Illinois. Some jurisdictions publish surplus information online, while others require in-person requests. Some have clear claiming procedures, while others are bogged down in red tape.
For individual operators, this fragmentation means spending countless hours searching court records and dealing with state-specific regulations. For institutional investors used to a uniform deal flow, these obstacles have been too great, leaving a huge opportunity mostly untapped by sophisticated capital.
One of the biggest changes from traditional alternative investment structures is Milan CM's deal-by-deal approach. There are no blind pool commitments, no subscription agreements that tie up capital indefinitely, and no multi-year lockups.
Instead, qualified members access a platform where they can browse live tranches of verified opportunities. Each tranche includes full data transparency: the property address, the foreclosure sale amount, the calculated surplus, the timeline to payout, and all relevant court documentation.
Investors can review the data, conduct their own due diligence if they want, and commit to specific tranches when they are ready. The typical holding period is 90 to 180 days, which means capital isn't stuck for years while waiting for returns.
This structure matches how institutional investors prefer to invest: with clarity, control, and defined timelines. It is a sharp contrast to the unclear, complicated processes that have historically defined this market.
Another distinctive feature of the after-foreclosure surplus market is that the funds are held in court custody until claimed. This isn't money sitting in a private company's bank account or tied to fluctuating market values. It's government-held collateral that represents a fixed dollar amount.
Once a foreclosure sale closes and the surplus is calculated, that number doesn't change based on market conditions. There's no volatility risk, no asset depreciation, and no exposure to broader economic cycles in the traditional sense. The surplus is the surplus.
This stability is particularly attractive in uncertain market environments. While commercial real estate values fluctuate and equity markets experience volatility, the dollar amount of after-foreclosure surplus remains constant throughout the claim process.
Of course, there are still operational and legal risks inherent in any claims-based process. Timelines can vary, disputes can arise, and compliance requirements must be met. But the underlying asset—the surplus itself—is not subject to the kind of valuation risk that characterizes most alternative investments.
Perhaps Milan CM's most significant contribution is proving that this market can scale.
For decades, the after-foreclosure space was considered too fragmented and legally complex for institutional participation. By building proprietary data aggregation systems, developing state-specific compliance protocols, and creating a transparent deal-flow platform, Milan CM has systematically dismantled those barriers.
The firm's track record underscores this scalability. With over 1,000 claims recovered and nationwide coverage, Milan CM has demonstrated that after-foreclosure surplus can be pursued systematically and profitably.
As with any inefficient market, the greatest advantages accrue to early entrants. The after-foreclosure surplus space is still largely overlooked by institutional capital, which means current participants face limited competition.
But inefficiencies don't last forever. As awareness grows and more capital flows into the space, returns will compress. The firms that establish themselves now will have a significant head start over those who wait.
Milan CM's approach reflects an understanding of this dynamic, positioning itself as an infrastructure provider that enables others to participate in the opportunity.
The transformation Milan CM has brought to the after-foreclosure surplus market offers lessons for any fragmented, data-intensive opportunity. When quality information is scarce, when legal complexity creates barriers, and when operational challenges prevent scaling, the solution isn't to abandon the opportunity. It's to build the infrastructure that makes access possible.
By centralizing data, standardizing processes, and creating transparency where none existed, Milan CM has turned a niche cottage industry into a legitimate asset class. Investors who value short-duration returns, government-held collateral, and low correlation to traditional markets now have a structured way to participate.
The billions of dollars sitting in county courthouses aren't going anywhere. But the window to access this opportunity on favorable terms is finite. As institutional infrastructure continues to develop and competition increases, the current advantage will inevitably narrow.
For now, the firms that recognize the value of verified deal flow, transparent data, and institutional-grade processes are the ones positioned to benefit most. Milan CM has built the platform to make that possible.
