xome expieriences anyone? are bidders prescreened?

[Marian Smith]

Evidently Nationstar's auction site.  Anyone buy off it?  I used Hubzu once and felt I was probably bidding against a bunch of HGTV wannabes who had yet to even qualify for a loan...because the site did not prescreen or  prequalify anyone.  I could have bid under the name Daffy Duck.  I paid 15k more than I thought the house should have gone for, 2k because the bidder I outbid "had to be outbid by 2k because they were on autobid."   No proof offered there.  

 I am guessing the auction sites qualify buyers after the bid process and hope the unqualifieds bid up the buyers with access to funds.  

I appreciate any help or tips on xome or online bidding in general.  thx!

[Brian Burke]

The part you are missing, @Marian Smith, is that these auction sites aren't really auctions. You place your bid, as do others, and when there aren't any other bidders to bid against you the website itself will bid against you until you drop out. They repeat the auction several times and track where the bidders drop out and then they decide whether to take one of these bids or to try other ways to market the property.  So this is much less an auction than it is a way to flush out your max bid.  That said, every once in a while you can get a deal.  I bought 50 or so about 4 or 5 years ago, but only a couple since then, and not for a lack of bidding...