so to recap and update:
While in Guinea in late July, I bid on a property to BRRRR in the Tampa area. The first asking price was 45k, it was up to 55 when I came into bid, and I bid up to 71, but I think it was mostly getting pushed up by the bank. It is supposedly worth ~100k. I had to add 5% fee- 3550- which would make it 74550, and although I wasn't the high bidder, they came back to me and asked if I wanted to submit my offer of 71k. They said it would probably take a few weeks for the decision to be made so I said yes, but then they said, ok, you won! Which wasn't what I wanted or could handle at that point.
I ended up being able to "give it back" since they wanted to close asap and I was going to be out in the field without internet for almost a week and couldn't add REI stress to Ebola work stress. Then two weeks later, I was the only bidder on the property, I bid to 50 and stopped, and it went right back onto the auction without them emailing me at all. Next week someone else bid it up to 60 and stopped bidding, and within an hour or so they had put it right back onto the auction for the next week. At the same time, the real estate agent put it on Zillow, with new photos that looked nice, for 101K.
Tues. Sept. 1st at 9:47 minutes before the end of this fourth auction, I bid 45k, the minimum bid. 30 seconds later ,they bid 2.5k more. 4 minutes later (with 4:37 left, which immediately turned into 9:37 left, since if there is a bid in the last five minutes the clock automatically adds 5 more minutes) I bid the minimum increment of 2.5k, up to 50K. 2.5 minutes later (7:00 before the end) they bid 52.5k. At 5:24 before the end I bid 55. At 4:24 -> thus 9:24 before the end they bid 57.5. At 1:47-> 6:47 I bid 60K. At 5:08 bank bid 62.5. At 4:32-9:32 I bid 65k. At 6:00 they bid 67.5. At 2:00, they dropped it to 1k bid increment, so I bid 68.5 and they let the clock run out. I almost immediately got the high bid confirmation and I had no exit choice, it seemed, although I guess I could have not clicked the “confirm bid” button on my dashboard, which was sent on Sept. 2nd . I might have lost my $2500 deposit, though. I was sent the “confirm bid” link, I had one calendar day to click it.
The offer was accepted almost immediately, and a few hours later they sent a docusign contract (all electronic signing and initialing). I had to send a bank statement (I just did a pdf of my online banking accounts), then within 48 hours I had to show a receipt that I had wired the EMD (the greater of 3k or 3%.) The main challenge with that was that the escrow agent hadn't sent their wire info and I was leaving the country the next day at noon but was able to do it online as I traveled. The escrow office is supposedly starting the closing process within 48 hours.
The contract stated that the closing would take place on or before October 6th, but I requested that they do it within two weeks so I can come back to the states, start getting the place fixed up (it needs power washing of vinyl siding and some trim repair outside, and repaint and replace grotty bedroom carpets with laminate or hardwood to match the gorgeous cherry floors in the kitchen and living room)then head to West Africa for a couple of weeks, then return to the states, finish getting it ready to rent (furnishing it, mostly with craigs’ list stuff except for beds and linens) and put it on the AirBnB market, then head back out of the country again.
All in all, I felt ok about the price-I saved around $2,575 by letting it go back to auction and waiting through several rounds. I could possibly have stopped at 65k and might have won it, or maybe it would have gone back to auction. It was clear that their sweet spot was above 60, and 71k was certainly there or above it. And with all this, it was still under the "reserve" price!
But at this point, I needed to get the house and get it onto the market so I can start getting bookings for the fall and winter months, and I won’t have time to come back to the states later on. And it’s done. I very much agree with what people universally say- it’s better to just do it, get started (hopefully having done at leasta modicum of research!) and try not to lose too much money on your first deal or two. The learning has been incredible, and it has really given me a much better sense that this is in fact do-able! As well as really fun…..
If you are still with me after all this, thanks for listening, and hope this was useful for someone else, as so many hundreds of posts on this site have been for me!
