Real Estate Auctions in Ohio

[Dezra Robitson]

I live in Columbus and I stumbled upon a nice house that had an auction sign in the yard for next month. Since I do not have a lot of experience or money I figured this might be the best way to jump into real estate. I recently asked someone who is a real estate investor what is his ideas on buying through auctions and he says that it preys on inexperienced investors and they tend to overpay and they also require cash purchases. Is there any other advice I should take heed to as to why I should not buy through this auction. Because I'm not sure what my next move should be for buying this property that has the potential to cash flow well for me.

[Matt Motil]

My recommendation would be to see if you have the ability to walk-through the property between now and the actual auction. You can get a feel for how much work the property needs once you own it. From there, you can use the analysis tools here at Bigger Pockets to figure out appropriate exit strategies (e.g. flip and rent). I typically look at both scenarios so I know going in what my options are. Based on the analyses conducted here on the site, you can determine your maximum allowable offer (or max bid for an auction). If you need help with the analysis tools, there are plenty of people here that can walk you through how to use it. If you aren't able to walk through the property, you take the risk of not really knowing what you are buying, and you have to assess the risk v. reward accordingly.