Auction.com

For those of you, like me, trying to buy a house, be aware of the First Look scam they use. First Look - for 30 days is supposed to allow regular people to buy and live in a house before investors are allowed. What they do is put a reserve price on the house so high nobody in their right mind would buy it. This allows the 30 days to pass so it can be auctioned again when investors can bid, allowing them to get more money.

I purchased from Gehman auctions on the Hibid platform, An antique Bible from the late 1800's. On the photo of the item when it was up for bid had no crack in the hinge of the front cover. When they shipped it whoever packed the bible must have handled it carelessly because when I received it, it was cracked along the hinge of th cover about 5 inches long, obviously effecting the value of the bible. I would not recommend purchasing any item of antiques from these people.

But you absolutely CAN buy a $200,000 house for $120,000 cash on Auction.com. Auction.com is great. The site sells REOs online using exactly the same M. O. you see at sheriff's sales on your local courthouse's steps: and, like auctions on your local courthouse steps, (...) for any given property there may be 2 actual, serious bidders and about 20 poor saps who showed up honestly thinking the bank was going to sell a house for which it's $120,000 in the red to some poor JimBob for what was advertised as the $30,000 'minimum bid' (snort) price. It won't happen. Not on Auction.com, not anywhere.

YES, fools, Auction.com WILL bid on behalf of the bank or sellers until the 'reserve' price is met. If you think that spells 'scam,' then you need to step out of the game and go back to buying scratch-offs as a long-term financial investment. Auction.com will NOT automatically sell a property to the highest bidder if the highest bid is at a loss to the seller and under the reserve price; this isn't La-La Land. However, the seller might agree to any REASONABLE bid, even if it's under the reserve. You can get absolutely incredible deals here, just don't be thinking a seller is obligated to respond to your ridiculous low-ball bid. All the negative reviews here seem to be from amateurs who really believed they were going to be handed something for nothing. For anyone who is serious about investing in REOs and is ready to throw out the funds required for such an undertaking, Auction.com is an absolute godsend.

Agent was quick to answer my question. Better than calling the phone number. I could not find the answer to my question over the phone, but the chat feature answered it quickly.

I bought a home In Jan 2016 through Auction.com it was a smooth transaction.
I have wasted almost a whole week traveling over a thousand miles and doing my due diligence on 5 different properties listed on Auction.com this past week, only to have them cancel the auction on the day it was scheduled. If their policy is that poor with the people they list for don't expect them to work for you. They work only for the seller you are just a pawn as a buyer.

I dont understand its online auction but why so called seller increases the bid without any interaction from other buyers. If reserve is not met, it should end the acution with higher bidder, instead seller keep on bidding and jacking the price up. Running the same property for 10 times in acution will not increase the value of the property or buyers point of view. Also the auction ending timer runs for 10 mins extra after the auction runs out. Thats absurd.

I have purchased 2 properties, and have been under contract on 6 properties with Auction.com. The two properties I have closed on had NUMEROUS issues that the seller knew about that were not disclosed. Thankfully, I found out some of the issues on the other properties and refused to close on them. Instead of accepting the fact that they knew about certain issues and did not disclose them and that was the reason we did not close, they blamed it on me and are trying to keep my earnest money. The latest issue with a house we were closing on was undisclosed major water damage, one of the most heinous issues was a house that was deemed as uninhabitable due to being a "meth and fentanyl lab". The seller had to serve the foreclosure documents to the occupant while he was incarcerated, nothing was disclosed. My account is now restricted, and that is ok by me. I refuse to do business with Auction.com any longer due to the repeated noncompliance with disclosures. I suggest that no one do business with them. They are unprofessional and should not be in business due to their lack of moral compass and lack of ethical business practices. If you do move forward with doing business with Auction.com, be VERY careful! Call the city, call the county, call anyone you can in regards to the property you are interested in buying. Photo is of a property I was under contract on that was on a demo list due to squatters and human waste inside the property as well as used needles. The debris in the photo is a mix of human feces and other debris. The subflooring is destroyed due to urine contamination and is soggy because of the urine. The house smells of feces and ammonia so bad that it is recommended not to enter, and if you do to have the proper PPE. They did not disclose anything and had very old nicer photos attached to the auction listing! The seller had disclosed, but Auction.com withheld the information on their auction!

They sold a property to me. They said it was occupied by the owner or tenant. Was told all information will be made known once closed. Come to find out the place was illegal occupied by multiple unknown persons. The whole house was not in leave-able condition. It was a total scam. They bid against you to get the most out of you. Didn't mind that, but deceiving information. They need to be sued and out of business.

My auction.com site live chat person, Kristal H, was very informative and had a quick response. I was wondering since the property was listed as vacant, why would my walking around be considered trespassing.

Their agreement they make you sign to participate in the remote bidding option they offer states that they are not liable for anything, even in the case of gross negligence or intentional fraud on their employees part.
Would not have believed that if I had not read it for myself. Imagine sending them hundreds of thousands of dollars and knowing that. I have e-mailed them multiple times to get an explanation on that and they won't respond. Low integrity company in my opinion. They also bend every legal rule they can at live auctions, including fake bids in an effort to make more money.

I recently purchased a vacant bank foreclosure on Auction.com and got a very good deal and had a quick, easy and enjoyable experience from bidding to closing. If you do your research and know what to expect it's hassle free and actually is much easier than dealing with non responsive brokers or fussy sellers. Tips: Don't place proxy bids, the site will just bid it up to the reserve, as is disclosed. Don't fight the form contracts, yes they are silly one-sided but you are getting a good deal or otherwise move on. Supply all the required info immediately after you win. Yes you have to pay a 2500$ deposit to bid to keep the fakers out of the bidding. Got it back in a day. Do use a buyers broker as you are paying for the agents anyway and Most importantly do opt to use your own title
Company for the closing.

I bid on 5414 Wagon trail in Robstown TX area. The house had it's flat roof torn off due to in-line high winds. The roofer installed a faulty roof and did not honor the warranty. A lien was placed on the house that clouded the title and meant the homeowner could not borrow against the equity. I spoke to the owner and was informed that the roof needs to be completely redone and Windstorm certificate acquired. The appliances in the kitchen do not work. The septic system needs work and there is over $100,000 of repairs needing to be done based on insurance estimates. I did the math and decided that I would have to invest over $170,000 to make this house sellable or livable. I decided to bid on the auction. I bid the minimum of $65,000. The required increment was $25,000. Auction.com bid $90,000 immediately for the seller. That meant my next bid had to be $$115,000. That amount was more than I would pay. OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS, ONLY AUCTION.COM BID FOR THE SELLER. Over 12 seller bids in a row AND THE LAST BID WAS OVER $175,00! THE RESERVE WAS NOT MET. So beware, the website bid history makes it look like there is bidders' interest when it is really seller bids against themselves. I think this is shady and dishonest.

I sat and watched them counterbid themselves 3 times in a row in order to drive up the price on 2 different houses. THAT is just a dishonest practice.

I won an action. I went over the reserve. 2 months after winning I finally get word that the seller rejected by winning bid because it was too low. I was told that the mortgage insurance company thought my bid was low. This property was on auction.com for a year and I was the first person to meet the reserve. What a waste of time.

The auction company gave me a strict time frame to send earnest money. I was fine with that and ready to send but the phone number and email to the title company was not correct. I called them and emailed multiple times a day with no reply, so I went online and found another number to call just to find out the company does not work for them. I am not sure what's up and why auctions.com would give me wrong information. I also kept calling auctions.com to tell them the problem with no action until they cancelled the sale saying I didn't meet the requirement to send the earnest money on time. Plus they suspended me from bidding for 8 days when the error was theirs. How frustrating.

I was helped by tyler, he answered all my questions, he was very patient. Thank you, great experience.

You like the deal.? Well you need to put some thought into it. Auction. Com is legit company, posting property for bank, owner, investor who can ALWAYS change their mind. Your job is to find property, if possible look at it and bid.Sign contact and follow the process and HOPE for the best. You need to know that sometimes your point of contact is man in Chicago and you are buying in Texas. Different law, marketing etc... Auction.com will answer EVERYTHING and discuss what they can see but AGAIN it's up to the bank to SAY last word. Please use it I did in 2007 and was THE BEST DEAL EVER.

What a nightmare! I was the winner on property that I took time to check out. The seller agent sign my bid They told me closing would be with in two to three weeks. I have made many many calls and two months later I get a email that seller canceled. Auction. Com should not list property's that they know should not for sale. They tide up 100.000 of my money for over two months just to say we are sorry. STAY AWAY!

So I had a bid on a house and one day before the bidding ends they postponed the auction... Who does that? NO one even informed me. I went to the website to see if anyone had bid and it said that it was postponed. I was already not happy because it stated the opening bid was 56,000 but when I went to bid I had to bid 61,000. VERY misleading. One last thing, start the bid at what the house has to go for... SERIOUSLY, who has time to mess around.

I am a real estate agent, but have not used this site for a few years. The chat assistant was extremely helpful.

These occupied properties should be bid on with expectations that the interior is gutted to the studs, but auction.com will relist these auction multiple times bidding on their own properties and trying to get above retail for a trashed property?!

I won the bid on a property in Waynesboro, VA - the company told me they cancelled the purchase because I am an investor - then sold it to another investor - rude customer service rep - BUYER BEWARE!

The properties sell very slow at auction.com. It does not have a backup bidder system and only see properties get relisted over and over again as the winning bidders often fails to close.