what exactly is auction.com

Question

so...a long, long time ago, in the days before the internet they used to do "foreclosure" or "trustee" sales on the court house steps.  Basically, a homeowner would not pay his mortgage, the bank would reclaim the house from him, then the county(the trustee) would sell the house to someone for cash and pay the bank most of the money.  I know, it's more complicated than that.  What I'm confused is: what exactly is auction.com?  Are they now the trustee in a foreclosure sale?  Do foreclosure sales through the county still exist?  If so, when and where do they take place in Sacramento County?  Thanks very much for your responses.

Helen Kirk · Answer

The last 3 times I have gone to the foreclosure sales at the courthouse steps in Lee County, Alabama, we had observers from auction.com to see the process.  They haven't cried any of their properties yet, but they told me that they will in the near future.  The last sale I went to we had a lot of properties that had high starting bids that nobody bid on.  These went back to the bank.  The people from auction.com came up to me and a few others and asked what we would have bid up to on these properties.  They actually took our contact information, so I was wondering if they might contact us later if some of these properties show up in their inventories.

Christy Harris · Answer

My husband bid on an auction.com... and wasn't willing to meet reserve -
 yes, he was bidding against himself via the auto counter bid @Josh Anders mentioned.  They called him a few weeks later before it was relisted to see if he was willing to buy at his last bid.

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

Auction.com is hired by banks to sell assets to highest bidder through quasi on line auctions.

in some states LIke Alabama they are actually the criers at the public court house auction.. if not sold there then those assets are brought into the loss mit departments then listed with auction to be sold on line at some point in the future.

I like it as they require actual money to buy this stuff as in you need healthy deposits and REAL POF's and you can't assign contracts etc.. so it mitigates competition with the no money wholesalers that are out there by the millions  LOL..

Carrianne Mucho · Answer

@Mark Alex You can find a lot of information about tax sales/trustee auctions on the County Website:

Sacramento County public auction tax sales are held the last Monday in February each year, with a follow-up sale in May or June. Properties not sold or postponed from the February public auction are normally offered at public auction the second Monday in May.

Follow this link: Sacramento County Tax  and go to item #4.

I used to work at an assessor's office so I learned a lot about property taxes and how to navigate the local county websites.

Account Closed · Answer

Hi @Mark Alex, I can second @Josh Anders on this. I bid on two properties in Reno on auction.com and auction.com bid on the bank's behalf to meet the set reserve requirement. I was not willing to pay the reserve amount on either property.

I saw the properties continuously go back on the site weeks later, so I am assuming no one else was willing to pay the reserve price either. At least at that time.

There are a few really nice properties up for court house steps auction in Placer county (in nice a area). Check out this link and contact me if you have questions about ARV etc.

https://www.auction.com/residential/ca/rocklin_ct/

Josh Anders · Answer

Account Closed demand for a property when there actually is none.

Josh Anders · Answer

Well, in order to have verified proof I would have to be there with them. It states in the fine print they reserve the right to bid on behalf of the seller.  Are you trying to tell me they have changed their policies and do not do this anymore? I haven't been to the site in a while but I will see what I can do to find your proof.

Dean Letfus · Answer

"You will have a lot of cash buyers bid up proprieties and never close."

If online auction they will lose their prepaid $2500 deposit so this doesn't happen.

Pat McGrath · Answer

there are extra buyer premiums they add as well, let alone the previous mentioned ghost bidding.

Mark Alex · Answer

Thank you for your responses.  The next auction.com auction occurs on the court house steps tomorrow.  I'm going to check it out just to see.  However, since they have such a bad rep., it's going to be very difficult to do business with them.  Maybe I'll try to find when other trustee sales are occurring.

what exactly is auction.com

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