Is REO home cheaper than foreclosure home

[Grace Shine]

The house I am interested in was foreclosed and had unpaid mortgage value of around 500k. It was on live court auction with a starting bid of 528k.

It didn't have any bidder and got reverted back to the beneficiary, the bank. Two months later, it is now on MLS as a REO with an agent, and it will have an online auction.

For this online auction, the Reserve price is not disclosed.

In this case, would the reserve price be lower than 528k? This time, there is a 5 percent buyer’s premium that needs to be paid to Auction.com (doesn’t go to the bank) and the bank provides realtors’ commission (2.5 to buyer’s agent and another 2.5 percent to seller’s agent).

Or because of the realtor’s commission that the bank needs to pay, would the reserve price be higher than 528k?

I’d appreciate any comments!