GovernmentAuction.com - experience?

[Daniel Schiller]

Do any BP members have experience buying land from GovernmentAuction.com?  I've been eyeing land in Central and West Texas, and they occasionally have some interesting opportunities, but some of them seem too good to be true.  Any reviews or stories dealing with them would be appreciated.  

Thanks in advance!

Daniel 

[Bruce Lynn]

Great marketing, but know what you are buying. I just looked at one piece of TX land. The description and pictures are excellent marketing. However it is very tough to know where exactly it is located. Lots of this is really probably junk. Maybe landlocked, maybe tough to get to even if not landlocked. Probably will never be utilities there like electric or water. So if you want to live off the grid in the middle of the desert and have a parachute to get there, not a bad deal in some cases. I would also be careful of HOA/POA dues. There are some places that you pay dues every month or every year, so sometimes you're buying a liability. I regularly see promotors selling lots in beautiful communities for $40,000-$100,000 in Texas. They are great at selling dreams....one community that tops my mind often has foreclosure lots at $100. Problem is there are probably 1000 lots or more for resale and the developer is still selling. POA dues are $1000 year. I get people calling crying they want to sell their lot they bought for $50,000 and I tell them they're lucky to get resale at $5,000...then of course they don't want to sell....but if they don't sell they're paying $1000 year plus property taxes for a lot that likely won't go up in value for years.

So think about your exit strategy.  Look at google sat view to see if there is anything and I mean ANYTHING around it....think about what you will do with this.  Are you going to use it....hunt it, camp on it, farm it, mine it, or what.

Many of these I see like in Hudspeth county for example are probably nothing but a headache, not an investment.