Cole v. FIRST STATE BANK OF GREENE

LAVORATO, Justice.

A state bank purchasing real property in a foreclosure sale must dispose of it within five years after title is vested in the bank. If the real property is agricultural land, the bank must first offer the prior owner an opportunity to repurchase it on the same terms the bank proposes to dispose of it. See Iowa Code § 524.910(2) (1987).

In this case the bank, following a foreclosure sale, immediately assigned the sheriffs certificate of sale to a third party. The question we must decide is whether the bank must first offer the prior owner the opportunity to repurchase. We must…