Today I attended my first sheriff's auction. I wasn't there to actually buy anything, I mostly just wanted to watch and get a feel for how it works when you go to one of these things. Over the course of 2 hours I started noticing certain "characters" and the roles they played. Here is what I noticed, it would be great if others would also weigh in here with their own observations:

(in order from largest group to smallest group)
1. Watchers. These were people (usually young men) that stayed for a while and left without ever bidding. It's possible that some of these people were just learning like me, but I have to wonder how many of them had planned on bidding, but never bothered because a house got bid up out of their price range?
2. Part-timers. These were typically older men (older meaning they looked old enough to be retired). Most of these guys were pretty social and seemed to know each other as well as the people conducting the auction. This group usually waited until the first time the auctioneer called "going once", and would make minimum raises until the price went out of their range. This group would bid on multiple properties, but they seemed to stick to one area. I overheard one of these guys walk in late and ask his friend "how many have been sold in Huber?"These guys were actively bidding up to about 70% of retail value.
3. Ozzie and Harriet. These were the people (usually couples) that were looking to buy a house for their own personal usage. They bid as soon as they could and sometimes even tried to bid before the bank made its opening bid. They always made minimum raises; in one case I watched a condo bidding war go from $275K up to around $325K in $1K increments! These people were only there to bid on a single house; these people left as soon as they won (or lost) the property that they wanted. They usually increased the price by the minimum raise and they bid up to 90% of retail value.
4. The professional. There was only one guy that I saw and would call a professional. He bid on every property that he wanted and he won every single one of them. He bid on multiple properties in multiple areas (poor, run down areas as well as "nice" neighborhoods). There were two properties that he purchased where he won the auction... and the bank didn't even bid! So he got the auction for the minimum asking price on those properties. There was also a notable bidding war that he won: one of the "Part-timers" was bidding against the bank and was about to win the auction. "Going once, going twice..." until the professional entered the bidding war. They made various raises and the professional was always quick to reply with his counterbid. At the end of the day he got the house for 95% of the "appraised" value, even though the retail price was much higher, so he still bought the house at 65% of retail value. Needless to say, I asked this man for his business card and plan on doing some work with him. :pup: