GoHoming.com / Altisource

[Ann Bellamy]

I thought I'd relate my experience with the above website, and see if anyone else chimes in with their experiences with this company. They are apparently a clearing house website and the people are in India. The local listing agent is non-responsive. Any suggestions are welcome.

I placed a bid on a property at the above website, was the high bidder but didn't meet the "reserve", and when the time ran out for this particular auction, it disappeared off the website and was relisted a day later with a lower opening bid.

I bid again, and kept bidding until I reached my max but still didn't reach the reserve. No one else bid, the listing disappeared off the website and reappeared a day later, this time at a higher opening bid.

Again I bid, was the highest bidder but still didn't meet the reserve. This time I received an email stating my bid had been accepted, and that I would receive a P&S agreement by email within 24 hours. I never received that email, and then the following day the property was relisted.

When I inquired, I received an answer that said since I had not met the reserve (this was apparent when I was placing the bid) my offer in fact had NOT been accepted, and that the "successful bid" email was a mistake.

So I'm looking for suggestions or others' experiences. I believe my next move would be to call the company and ask for how much they actually want for the property, since another investor I know did exactly that, and they told her the reserve price. I don't get it? Why have a reserve that you don't disclose, if you then disclose it on a phone call?

[Don Konipol]

Ann Bellamy, I am afraid your experience is not unusual. Other than the foreclosure auctions, and possibly a few others without reserve, I find that the entire auction method of selling real estate is just a marketing device for what amounts to a regular sale. I found out that one of the largest real estate auctioneers in Texas employs "straw bidders" to get the price up to what he promises the seller or to "win the bid" when the real winning bid is too low. So even "without reserve" may be meaningless. On a virtual bidding site the room for dishonest tactics is much greater, as we have no idea what real bids are.