Well, this was unexpected.

I've bid on the foreclosed property auction website 2 weeks in a row, for a house (for my daughter). Someone bid more each time.They claim the reserve was never met. Don't know if the winning bidder didn't send the EMD or what, but...

Today I got an email offering to submit my highest bid to the seller (bank), even though it is below their reserve price. The seller still has to approve it, after all the paperwork is done, but who knows!

Side note: I can't believe they thought they could sell it for so much - or that anyone would bid so much - for a property like this. It is a smallish 2/1 occupied by squatters who have to be put out, and therefore must be bought without any prior inspection.

Since it's for my daughter, we plan to redo everything anyway, and make it nice, so have estimated high for repairs to come up with the bid.

I bought the rooming house through this website, but that was a sealed bid situation. Never did the live online auction before - quite interesting. Any of you done it?

We bought our current primary house in a very similar way.

It was owned by X. X tried to sell it for $200k. We're like, "Uh, no way!"

It was in pre-foreclosure. It was for sale for $120k. We're like, "Uh, no way!"

The house sat vacant. It was for sale through three or four different realty companies-- each was about an hour away, so there were definitely no eyes on the property during these two years.

It was for sale on the courthouse steps for about $100k. We're like, "Uh, no way!" The bank put in the minimum bid and struck it back off to itself.

It went up for sale on an auction site. It was for sale for about $100k, or whatever it was. The auction expired with no bids.

Then it went up for auction again on the auction site a little bit later. We're like, "We've been watching this house for the last four years. We're willing to offer $x. People are breaking in. People are stealing stuff from it. You're never going to get what you want for it."

And they mumbled back and forth a bit, and then were like, "Sold."

I probably had to replace a good 18 light fixtures by the time we got possession of it. They were just about to cart off the dishwasher. But the fun part was that we were then able to challenge the taxes on it-- because market value was now what we had paid for it, not what was previously listed.

We've bought a couple.

Not a fan of all the fees. Technology fee, buyer's premium, a fee for this, a fee for that.

I'll only bid on unoccupied properties. I'm not interested in a drawn out legal battle to get the former owners out or cash for keys. Especially with the reserves that are set locally.

We do have time on our side - we can wait. And not falling in love with a place (though this is a good neighborhood) At the same time, I have the cash & can close right away - whenever that is : )My daughter will not be kicked out of my house while we wait. It will be a winter DIY project where she learns and does a lot of work with me.

If I get it, I'll probably make one visit to the property to try to ascertain who the people are who are there and see if they are willing to leave peacefully. But, if not, my lawyer is standing by - he can let me know when it is vacant.

I used to follow these. Banks just set their price super high so they're not stuck selling it for a very low amount if it doesn't get bid up or on.

I have also seen them then taken back by the bank who is stuck with selling them. At that time the buyer will gain access to the property and can verify the flaws. I've seen them sometimes end up getting less for them when they do that than had they sold at auction to the highest bidder.

I recently purchased through auction.com. I learned that the bid is "automatically" increased if the reserve hasn't been met, so when you stopped bidding before the reserve was met, it was offered to your at your bid.

Since you have time, you could wait until it's listed again and bid lower and see if it is offered to you again at an even lower bid.

On a 35k bid I ended up paying 37466. That included prorated taxes and title insurance.

The house had been listed for 55k a year or two ago. I had to hire a locksmith to unlock it as no one had the realtor box code. I've put about 2500 in repairs and just rented it for almost 700 a month. I'd do it again if it were in pretty good shape.

I also "won" another bid (by meeting the unknown reserve). It was occupied and I am not sure I'd take on an occupied one. Anyway, I told them I changed my mind and didn't want it and they were fine with that.

Oh the one I bought did not have a buyer's premium on it either.

I assume the last "bid" was actually from auction .com, but there was one other above my last - so that may have been a real bidder who reneged.

This one also has no buyers premium, but also nothing for the Realtor. So, it about balances out. My Realtor did the bidding while I'm at the old paycheck job.

My had no buyers premium either, and my realtor I have listing a property of ours backed off helping me real fast although she did find what the bank had paid for it, which I hadn't found. And that price WAS the reserve.

They never have turned off the electric, and I haven't put it in my name yet, so I figure it will balance out. Electric will cover locksmith fee.

The one we "won" that had a person in it. We rushed over there and he was not real happy but didn't shoot us either. so I'm glad we could get out of that one and didn't have to deal with the mess. It was in much worse shape than we thought as well. sheeeew avoided that !!

btw I guess my bid was 36k. It was a 2001 mfg house with a 2 car attached garage and a shed on a 1/2 lot.