I live in California and I have interest of bidding on the HUD Home Store website. 

I second/third the idea of getting more tree bids.

I just put a bid in for a property for someone else on Friday.

Do you get your bid deposit back if you don't end up purchasing the home?

I had a couple bids for plumbing (rerun supply lines in pex from copper as mentioned above and set fixtures) for $6,000 to $8,000.

I am still interested in the property but given the scope of the repair, I'd like to get a couple of estimates from contractors first so I can factor them into my bid. 

Maybe he wants to just try and make sure his bid comes in below the amount of that check, but probably not, and again, it costs what it costs, so the payout shouldn't factor in for him.

I have been in several bidding wars on properties that were on the market for over 150 days that now are in high demand.

Luckily for me it was enough to save the deal, but he was still $45,000 under market value, which I proved with conservative comps.Your best bet, if you know how to stoke up a bidding war (and there is a very specific formula for it) is to try for multiple offers and look for one with a big enough down payment to prevent the deal from blowing up due to appraisal.

to way over bid the property then BRRRR strategy and pray you brake even2.