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Updated about 2 months ago on . Most recent reply
Buying homes at auctions
Hi, has anyone ever bought homes at auctions? And if you have, what exactly do you need to look for? How does it work? And can you buy those homes and sell them and list for market value? Any insight would help!
Thank you!
I'm looking into this as well. So far I've read one book on foreclosures, it's called Foreclosure Investing for Dummies, it's quite detailed. I think I will plan to do this hopefully in a year or so. Generally you need the cash saved up.
I have a few times. There are different types of auctions. The two types I've attended:
Foreclosure auctions. These are auctions that often literally take place on courthouse steps due to a lender foreclosing on a property due to nonpayment. You do not have the opportunity to look inside the house before bidding so you're buying sight unseen. You have to put down a large deposit if you win via cashier's check. You don't actually own the property until the sale is ratified by the courts as a foreclosure is a legal process though you are generally responsible for the property taxes for the property from the moment you win. Also, often times the original homeowners still live in the property so once the sale is ratified you have to go through the eviction process or offer cash for keys to get them to leave. So, lots of challenges and risk but you could actually end up with a good deal. You could also end up with a property that needs to be gutted from top to bottom after months of legal hassles. I wouldn't recommend this as a starting strategy for anybody.
Market Auction: There's probably a better term for this but anyone who owns a property can sell it via an auction. These are listed on the MLS through an auction house and you CAN go tour the property before-hand, often with a buyer's agent if you wish. The auction will often take place at the property although these days that's usually combined with an online auction that starts up to 2 days before the final bid is accepted. There is a suggested opening bid and a minimum bid increment.
When the physical auction takes place, bids will happen. The auctioneers will try to encourage action. When it seems like they have a final bid and no one is willing to increase it, they will often times go talk to the owner for a few minutes. The owner is under absolutely no obligation to accept any bid or to even sell the property. They will come back and give one last opportunity for bids. If there are some, it continues. If not, they'll announce the winner assuming the owner is happy with the result. Again, often times this requires a large down payment when you win to be held in escrow as things go to title. Also, there is usually a "hammer fee" which is a % of the total purchase price to be paid to the auction house by the BUYER.
Again, you can get good deals this way and you actually can tour the property beforehand so you generally know what you're getting into. In my experience, most properties that go to auction end up overpriced so I'd be prepared to attend a LOT in order to get something that worked on paper.
When I attended my first market auction with an experienced agent the advice he gave me was to figure out my maximum beforehand and stick to it (Seems obvious but people get caught up in winning). Also, don't bid until they are approaching your max. Wait until you're about 3 minimum increments away from your max, then come in with a 2X increment increase. Having someone come in late in the bidding process who is jumping by more than the minimum CAN help shut action down. This was just advice of course, no guarantees of results.
Regardless of the type of auction, once you own the property you can do anything legal that you want with it. So yes, you can fix and flip, or hold as a rental, or whatever.
Quote from @Jon K.:
I have a few times. There are different types of auctions. The two types I've attended:
Foreclosure auctions. These are auctions that often literally take place on courthouse steps due to a lender foreclosing on a property due to nonpayment. You do not have the opportunity to look inside the house before bidding so you're buying sight unseen. You have to put down a large deposit if you win via cashier's check. You don't actually own the property until the sale is ratified by the courts as a foreclosure is a legal process though you are generally responsible for the property taxes for the property from the moment you win. Also, often times the original homeowners still live in the property so once the sale is ratified you have to go through the eviction process or offer cash for keys to get them to leave. So, lots of challenges and risk but you could actually end up with a good deal. You could also end up with a property that needs to be gutted from top to bottom after months of legal hassles. I wouldn't recommend this as a starting strategy for anybody.
Market Auction: There's probably a better term for this but anyone who owns a property can sell it via an auction. These are listed on the MLS through an auction house and you CAN go tour the property before-hand, often with a buyer's agent if you wish. The auction will often take place at the property although these days that's usually combined with an online auction that starts up to 2 days before the final bid is accepted. There is a suggested opening bid and a minimum bid increment.
When the physical auction takes place, bids will happen. The auctioneers will try to encourage action. When it seems like they have a final bid and no one is willing to increase it, they will often times go talk to the owner for a few minutes. The owner is under absolutely no obligation to accept any bid or to even sell the property. They will come back and give one last opportunity for bids. If there are some, it continues. If not, they'll announce the winner assuming the owner is happy with the result. Again, often times this requires a large down payment when you win to be held in escrow as things go to title. Also, there is usually a "hammer fee" which is a % of the total purchase price to be paid to the auction house by the BUYER.
Again, you can get good deals this way and you actually can tour the property beforehand so you generally know what you're getting into. In my experience, most properties that go to auction end up overpriced so I'd be prepared to attend a LOT in order to get something that worked on paper.
When I attended my first market auction with an experienced agent the advice he gave me was to figure out my maximum beforehand and stick to it (Seems obvious but people get caught up in winning). Also, don't bid until they are approaching your max. Wait until you're about 3 minimum increments away from your max, then come in with a 2X increment increase. Having someone come in late in the bidding process who is jumping by more than the minimum CAN help shut action down. This was just advice of course, no guarantees of results.
Regardless of the type of auction, once you own the property you can do anything legal that you want with it. So yes, you can fix and flip, or hold as a rental, or whatever.
I think market auctions are better for newer investors because you're able to see the inside of the property and the property will be delivered vacant.
If you win you will have to provide a deposit that is held in escrow until the transaction closes. The amount of this deposit is going to depend on the auction itself. They will provide this information when you register for the auction and it is usually available in the listing as well. That deposit goes towards the purchase price. You will have to pay all the usual expenses associated with buying a property: transfer taxes, government fees, title company/attorney costs, as well as a "hammer fee" which goes to the auction house.
In theory yes, you could win something for a few thousand dollars. I'd imagine at that cost you'd either be buying just a shell of a property or raw land.
Quote from @Jon K.:
I think market auctions are better for newer investors because you're able to see the inside of the property and the property will be delivered vacant.
If you win you will have to provide a deposit that is held in escrow until the transaction closes. The amount of this deposit is going to depend on the auction itself. They will provide this information when you register for the auction and it is usually available in the listing as well. That deposit goes towards the purchase price. You will have to pay all the usual expenses associated with buying a property: transfer taxes, government fees, title company/attorney costs, as well as a "hammer fee" which goes to the auction house.
In theory yes, you could win something for a few thousand dollars. I'd imagine at that cost you'd either be buying just a shell of a property or raw land.
I would focus more on how good of a deal it was vs how little it cost. I haven't bought a lot at auction but the best deal I got at one was:
Through the fog of memory (don't feel like looking up the exact amounts), in late 2021, I paid around 140k for a 4 bedroom single family detached property. I believe I put about 60k into the rehab which included adding a fifth bedroom to the basement. It appraised for 320k which is obviously a great spread but you have to remember closing costs, carrying costs, hard money costs and the cost of the refinance. When it was all said and done I still ended up being able to pull about 5 to 10k more out of it than I put into it.
Current mortgage including taxes and insurance is $1,519 and it's currently rented for $2,546/month.
Yes, you can buy a house at auction that you then flip and sell for market value.
And yes, I have participated in online auctions.
Quote from @Jon K.:
I would focus more on how good of a deal it was vs how little it cost. I haven't bought a lot at auction but the best deal I got at one was:
Through the fog of memory (don't feel like looking up the exact amounts), in late 2021, I paid around 140k for a 4 bedroom single family detached property. I believe I put about 60k into the rehab which included adding a fifth bedroom to the basement. It appraised for 320k which is obviously a great spread but you have to remember closing costs, carrying costs, hard money costs and the cost of the refinance. When it was all said and done I still ended up being able to pull about 5 to 10k more out of it than I put into it.
Current mortgage including taxes and insurance is $1,519 and it's currently rented for $2,546/month.
Yes, you can buy a house at auction that you then flip and sell for market value.
And yes, I have participated in online auctions.
Quote from @Jon K.:
I would focus more on how good of a deal it was vs how little it cost. I haven't bought a lot at auction but the best deal I got at one was:
Through the fog of memory (don't feel like looking up the exact amounts), in late 2021, I paid around 140k for a 4 bedroom single family detached property. I believe I put about 60k into the rehab which included adding a fifth bedroom to the basement. It appraised for 320k which is obviously a great spread but you have to remember closing costs, carrying costs, hard money costs and the cost of the refinance. When it was all said and done I still ended up being able to pull about 5 to 10k more out of it than I put into it.
Current mortgage including taxes and insurance is $1,519 and it's currently rented for $2,546/month.
Yes, you can buy a house at auction that you then flip and sell for market value.
And yes, I have participated in online auctions.
Quote from @Darvin Ezell:
Quote from @Jon K.:
I would focus more on how good of a deal it was vs how little it cost. I haven't bought a lot at auction but the best deal I got at one was:
Through the fog of memory (don't feel like looking up the exact amounts), in late 2021, I paid around 140k for a 4 bedroom single family detached property. I believe I put about 60k into the rehab which included adding a fifth bedroom to the basement. It appraised for 320k which is obviously a great spread but you have to remember closing costs, carrying costs, hard money costs and the cost of the refinance. When it was all said and done I still ended up being able to pull about 5 to 10k more out of it than I put into it.
Current mortgage including taxes and insurance is $1,519 and it's currently rented for $2,546/month.
Yes, you can buy a house at auction that you then flip and sell for market value.
And yes, I have participated in online auctions.
At the time I was active enough that I had a few sources of reliable money. I generally went with private money first because I’d get better rates and terms. But I knew and had worked with a couple of hard money lenders often enough as well to know that they’d fund any purchase in the range I was looking to buy in without issue if my private lenders didn’t have the capital or weren’t interested.
So to answer your question I already had several lenders in place that I had worked with previously. I didn’t have a pre-approval amount per se, I just knew that I didn’t have to worry about funding for anything under maybe half a million and my typical purchase and rehab was in the 150 to 250 range.