can someone tell me about buying a house at an auction?

[disney_5]

they list real estate auctions in the Sunday paper and there is one on Thursday for a condo unit on our street. We already own our house but this condo is updated and could be a nice place to own exspecialy if it sells cheaply. Does anyone have experience buying a house or condo at a real estate auction? What is the buying process like and what do you need to do ahead of time before the auction? Do we need to get preapporved by a bank? And can you back out if the property does not do well on the home inspeciton?

thanks, this is not something I would consider if it wrere not right on our street.

Jen.

 

[bbarba]

you should check out their website. you would have to be pre-approved (signed up) by the auctioneer to bid, which may require being approved by a bank. they will also require you to close in so many days...

 

[puffkin]

We bought our first house at auction.

I would call the auction company to find out their terms, but typically you need 10% down the day of the auction. You may need a mortgage preapproval too; I know we did.

Anything that comes up at the home inspection pretty much falls on you. At least in our case, that is how it worked. We did arrange a "viewing" of the house a few days before the auction to do a carefull walk through with a contractor friend before we felt comfortable even bidding on the house.

Most real estate auctions will not go at bargain basement prices as usually the sellers will have some type of minimum reserve that they want to hit. You will probably also see a lot of landlords there trying to pick up a rental property cheap which will run up the price. You also have to really know the market value because it is easy to get carried away in the auction format and you don't want to overpay.

 

[disney_5]

thanks for the great advice.

Good news. The auction was cancelled. Now I don't have to think about it. I am sure it went for a good price, but we realy don't need a condo or a place for anyone to live right now.

Jen.