Can a lender safely bid a nominal sum at a foreclosure sale? Sure.

But first a foreclosing party might ask why the question needs to be asked, and then why the answer is so tersely affirmative.

One practical response to the first inquiry relates to taxes. In New York City, the transfer tax (paid by the foreclosing party unless the burden for that has been shifted by the judgment and the terms of sale) falls to the grantor—officially the referee, but as a practical matter, the foreclosing plaintiff.