Anyone have experience using Auction.com for bank owned properties? Is there a general rule as to what % of market price these properties tend to go for? I see that the starting bids are low, but after making a few, I notice that I haven’t met the reserve on any of them.
Also it seems like there is little-to-no activity during an auction, until the very last few minutes. Is this par for the course?
I appreciate any input you could offer, thanks
I haven’t used auction.com but I’ve looked at realtybid.com and bidselect.com before. I can’t remember which of those two sites we bought that house from that I described in my other response to you. The houses I’ve seen here locally that are on those auction sites are also listed on the MLS here. A couple times we tried putting in offers on houses only to find out they were also listed as auctions so we had to bid on them. The listing agent couldn’t accept normal offers because of the auction. The house we bought at auction didn’t have much activity besides us. We lost out on a couple others that got bid up higher. Even for houses on auction, I would still treat it as a regular purchase and do normal due diligence. Don’t just trust pictures online because some pics will be very deceiving.
I personally like trying to swoop in at the last minute on auctions. I just watch until the last and then set my max bid. Most auctions are like eBay where the system will step up the bid all the way to your max bid only if someone bids against you. Know your numbers and bid accordingly.
I don’t know about these properties selling at a certain percentage of market value. I don’t think you can stereotype it and say all auction properties sell at a thirty percent discount. If that were the case, everyone would be hawking the auction sites. You just have to know your market so you can spot a deal when it comes up.
Usually, to win-you have to pay too much! The reserves are quite high. It only takes one idiot to bid against you on a property that you want, to drive the price to the moon. The veterans will stay out once the price hit their limit. You can get the same price most of the time through short sales or REOs with essentially no risk.
By no risk I mean that clear title is not guaranteed. Their language says “any lien not wiped out by the foreclosure, stays with property” such as property taxes, second mortgages, code violations, etc.
I have bought 2 fc"s from auction .com and loved those deals, I bought a 2002 dw and acre of land w no heating and air unit as it had been stolen for 16,500. I put about 7000. in it and sold for 69,999
2. I bought a 1994 townhouse for 54,000 and rehabbed about 5000. and sold for 92,000 in a gaited community, so you def can get deals. When i called before I bid they guanteed clear title but i did title search on both anyway. :}