Auction Groups vs Wholesalers?

[Tony Vicente]

Any thoughts on using wholesalers to find rehab deals for buy and hold, versus using the large auction groups (ashland and alex cooper)?

The auction groups charge 5-10% and are transparent about it. I would imagine wholesalers take a similar cut but it seems like they try to mark up the prices by much more than that since they can ask for whatever they want without much repercussion, so they swing for the fences.

What's the best way to cut out the chain of middle-men and get straight to the source? Zillow and filter by "auction" ?

[Michael Kissi]

In my very small experience, there are seldom if any deals to be found in auctions. But it shouldn't really matter as long as you do your due diligence with any property and have a hard stop on the max you should pay for it. 

With that said my first property was bought at auction. I did everything wrong and still didn't get burned. I got extremely lucky.