Auction.com

In the Tucson Arizona area, their estimated resale value always seems to be on the extreme high side.

I asked them but they didn't explain to me. My first time bidding. If I know or understand how to bid and how can I win, I don't have to ask them.

They list properties over and over and over because the reserve prices are ridiculously high (Not really the auction sites fault). Their shill bidding process of Auction.com bidding on behalf of the seller means the highest bidder under reserve will always be Auction.com, so you'll most likely never win an auction under the reserve price. The large majority of reserve prices are so close to market value that all of the risks of buying foreclosed properties (Everything that can go wrong with a title/deed, tax liabilities, liens, fines and fees, nightmare occupant scenarios, condition of building being far worse than stated, etc) far outweigh any bargain possibilities. Once you buy an auction bought property you are left holding ALLL the risks. Without the financial bargain of being able to get a great "Auction Price" price, there is no point of an auction.

You may be able to successfully buy a property on Auction.com, but don't expect what everyone thinks of when they think of getting an auction deal... You're going to pay closer to market rate than should be expected of REO and distressed property sales AND you are going to be handed all the risks that come with such properties.

Auction.com isn't really like an auction. It's more like a realestate agent submitting best offers on a property to the seller who doesn't actually have to accept any of the best offers whatsoever... all the while buyers are left with all of the VERY LARGE risks and realities of buying auction properties.

Also, they tie up your $2500 for far too long in my opinion. It can take a full week or longer for the release of your $2500 credit card hold.

I have placed multiple bids to just get results saying cancelled. This almost feels like a scam. Dont waste your time here.

I have purchased (live) 6 properties from various auction companies. Auction.com is by far the worst.
1. Their "estimated opening bid" is a total work of fiction by some kid behind a computer. Case-in-point: I'm currently looking at a property where the owners owe $417k on the primary and they estimate it to open for $260k.
2. The last time, they had an estimate of 117k and at the auction, they said it had an opening bid of 117k but would not take less than 134k. Strange.
3. When they do get the real opening bid from the bank (usually 2 days prior to the auction), they rarely post it. Other companies post it and what it sold for at auction.
4. They won't divulge what the property really sold for.
I have actually skipped auctions run by Auction.com just to avoid the circus that they are trying to create.

It doesnt build a lot of confidence in an online site if you know you are bidding against bots/shill bidders.

Since we are not talking about pennies here, rather tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars im guessing it will only be a matter of time before:

A. The feds catch on
B. Daily paper shows tons of boxes being carried out of their headquarters
C. The two sides announce a (steep) payment from auction.com that doesnt admit to wrong doing but promises to clean up their act

I read all the reviews and only 1 good review in the bunch. I am starting to believe that this is really all about taking our 2500 deposit and making interest on it. I have bid several times and the next thing I know its up for bid again a week or so later. Why not just list it on MLS if this isn't so. Not happy with whats going on here. Sounds like a scam to me.

I tried many times to bid homes in my area. I have never received a winning bid and they keep $2,500.00 tied up for a very long time. I even tried bidding close to what they are worth in fair condition. Many of the homes have not even gone through the full foreclosure process and are listed as bank owned. I'm so glad that I finally decided to quit trying this site. Too frustrating. I would hate to think what the closing would look like. Good idea if properly executed. I'm afraid that the foreclosure bargains are gone at this point. I had a lot of luck a few years ago. I only gave an additional star because I feel lucky to have missed on all my bids.

Based on the reviews, I was aware that auction.com may internally bid up the auction price, acting as another bidder. I am fine with that as i am sure they are trying to obtain the reserve price set by the bank. As an investor, you bid only to a price you are comfortable with.
In any case, I won the auction, and had to provide them with funds and paperwork within 2 hours! Very unreasonable, even for someone who has a flexible schedule.
We were suppose to close within 20 days, mid Dec. It is now mid Febuary and I have had to sign an extension 4 times. This is a cash purchase, so there is no reason for delays and the home is vacant. Part of the problem is their 3rd party closer who was quite useless but either way charges $1200. I used my own title company and she has been the one doing the job of the seller's title company. Closing was delayed bc the bank rejected outstanding HOA fees in the amount of $400.00. There is no way one can obtain clear title without this lien being paid off. This debate could have delayed closing for months. I offered to pay the $400. Still no closing as of today. Requested another extension letter. In the meantime, the seller has paid in excess of $3000 in taxes and insurance bc of these delays.
I will say that the customer service and the representatives at auction.com have tried to assist. IS it possible that they can only move as fast as the seller?

In any case, if this goes through, I would still purchase again, but they would not be my first outlet. If it doesnt, I have every intention on filing a complaint. I purchase 4-5 homes a year to rehab and resell. This was my first experience with Auction.com.

I was interested in a home that was foreclosed on over a year ago I was the only bidder in the last year and they didn't accept my bid. Now the home is a direct offer I place the direct offer and they came back at the highest possible offer of 50,000. Which is more than what the home sold for when it was completely renovated five years ago and sold with a mortgage of 49,500. When you're offering cash for something it should be less than the mortgage value, especially now saying how it's been sitting empty over a year and all the carpets torn up and there's holes in the wall from what I can see when I look in the window. The estimated selling price of the home is $80,000 a home in this area and that condition will not sell for that much. It's doing no good sitting and they are wanting to play hard ball.

I wanted to read the good reviews since there are so many bad ones, but the good reviews only states how they're questions were properly answered. I was hoping to read more reviews on the success of winning bids and a smooth process.

Delays that have gone weeks beyond the 30 days stated in contract. Buyer is bound to contract, Seller is apparently not. Winterization companies destroying front doors and door frames to gain access. Notices posted on front doors after closing stating that they will secure the property again. Winterization company that went in the day before closing and stripped everything out that wasn't bolted down. Not getting access to many of the vacant homes so you can get an idea what you are bidding on. Being charged crazy amounts in closing costs such as $600 for a smoke detector installation and inspection. Total charged was $900 so I guess I am lucky to pay only $600? Lawyer for seller thought charges were justified. It was an "as is" property. Inspection was not even needed. I could have done it for $50 fire department inspection fee and $40 for detectors. Problems with getting clear titles so a closing can occur. Make sure all utilities are paid in full before you close so you don't get stuck paying them. I see a not for viewing listing for a tri-level that notes that pipes may be broken and water was coming out of lower level windows. What kind of mess is that going to be? $1000 or $20,000? I have bought 5 homes through auction.com and so far haven't been burned on a deal, but I do all the needed work myself. Much of the work is cosmetic with a few surprises along the way. Know your market and estimate high on what you think a house will need done and bid accordingly. Utilities, real estate taxes and insurance can eat into your profits if you plan to flip. And don't forget your real estate agent will want 6% commission to sell. If a property gets too high for you at auction.com, stop bidding. I see some properties that have been listed for many months. I don't know why they won't just publish a reserve on them and sell them.

I made an offer to the bank who owned a foreclosure when it was still on the MLS. I am very familiar with this home, the past owners, and the condition of the property. The property consists of 1.15 acres and all but 8 ft of the property are in the front of the house. Yes, the property line extends 8 ft from the back of the house. Basically - NO back yard. Not a problem for me as I want to rent it out. The county property records indicate that the house has two buildings. That is not accurate as the owner removed the metal building leaving a large foundation big enough for a basketball court. The property records will not reflect the change until next year. Additionally, some states, like Alabama, have a right of redemption. In Alabama it's one year. The owners of this house have until May of 2016 to "reclaim it" if they have the money. My last counter offer was not accepted by the bank (cash, no inspection, quick closing). Now this home is on Auction.com. The home as listed on auction.com says it has 23.4 acres, and the pictures of the surroundings in the back yard are actually not in the back yard. It's the neighbors acreage. I have sent their supposed "customer service" information about their "errors" of this listing but obviously, nothing has been done. So - this listing is pretty much full of deception. I happen to have done my due diligence and also contacted the county regarding the property lines and the fact that there were NOT two buildings on the property. The records have not yet been updated indicating only one building (the house). My point:
Better check out the property IN PERSON and please check out the information that auction.com has on the listing. Additionally - you better check out the "redemption" period for your state. Of course, no mention of THAT on their listing either. Most people do not want to deal with the uncertainties of the redemption period. So some schlep will be bidding on a property that looks good in the pics, property records say it has two buildings, and just look at that back yard - it has 23.4 acres! Oh - and the house does not have clear title because the owner can reclaim it until May 2016!

I bought a house at auction.com but was fortunate enough to have seen it prior to the auction listing when a local realtor had it. Title insurance is not offered on most of the current auction properties possibly due to my experience! Make sure you have it! I DID! Thank goodness. It will cost you prior to winning the bid provided you can get an insurance company to cover the property. The title search costs & you don't get it back!

Because I had title insurance it cost THEM over $******* to get me a clear title (almost as much as I paid for the house) and had I not noticed the foreclosure notice in the local paper thru a local bank attorney, my property would have been auctioned on the courthouse steps to some unsuspecting person. It took me over 9 months to get it straight. I had moved in and sunk over $150,000 into the house over the cost (auction). Mine turned out OK but not before suffering thru months of living in limbo due to stopping improvements to the house, many sleepless nights, legal expenses, anxiety attacks...

No one has ever told me if I would be able to recoup the additional money I spent on improvements from the Title Insurance Company had this backfired. I suspect not!

I've bought three properties from auction.com & the last one was the worst! There are some good deals, but you have to be really careful or they will just let deals sit with your money tied up, give you faulty title making a property impossible to sell, and screw up every piece of paperwork.

Do NOT use their closing company Servicelink-they are HORRIBLE and incompetent. We got to closing and they provided the wrong deed. It then took over 80 days to get them to correct it. The closing specialist at auction, Lynette Achong, was completely unresponsive for weeks-my realtor and I called and emailed daily for two weeks to get a response. She was rude and when we pushed, she would threaten to kill the whole deal & keep my earnest money if we didn't stop calling. I told her to bring it on-she wouldn't have a leg to stand on. She was basically mad we used our own title company who caught their mistake. She said she had planned to close our deal to have it count for her April numbers & our insisting on the correct deed was going to mess up her pay bonus... tough, honey... not my problem...

No one will ever let you talk to anyone's supervisor, but when we got to 80+ days and no response for weeks & her threats, they finally elevated it & got it done. It required a director at servicelink to force the title agent their, Heather Moeser, to do her job.

The vast majority of their properties have a problem, which is why the banks use the auction sites to sell them. You have to do your homework and I wouldn't recommend the site for inexperienced real estate investors unless you have a savvy realtor to help you. Properties are sold as is, including title issues, so it requires either a lot of due diligence or such low prices you're not risking much.

Almost every money scam is based on the victim's greed. I have not been riped off by Auction.com, but I have bid on a few homes they have listed, and I'm not happy about the way it works. It does appear to be a slippery hustle. Basically, the owner of the property (usually a lender) lists the property with Auction.com, and the owner sets a reserve price. The reserve price is not the same as the "opening bid." The reserve price is a BIG SECRET. As you bid, Auction.com also bids against you to drive-up the price to meet the "Secret Reserve Price". Auction.com will tell you this going in, and it is also explained in detail on the Better Business Bureau complaint site. Futhermore, Auction.com does not allow you to inspect the property in anyway. Perhaps they legally can't allow inspections, but they could do this right by conducting a "forced eviction" prior to listing the property for sale. You (the new buyer) can't get a loan on most of the homes listed on auction.com the banks will not loan money on them. The banks are smart enough to not give you a loan on a house you cannot inspect. Much like a casino, it appears the cards ar stacked against you, and the house will almost always take you.

Auction.com does a bad job following up with customers. Your calls and e mails are ignored. They are not very helpful. You are pretty much on your own. You can buy from them, but for the fees they charge you get little service.

I won auction in Dec. And had to sign contract and provide funds within a few hours, we were to close within 3 weeks since this was a cash purchase. After signing contract and expediting funds I was informed someone would contact me with further instructions and closing date. A week went by and still no contact from anyone so I decided to contact them again and was informed to wait until a closing agent contacts me. Another week or two go by no contact. At that point I get impatient and contact a rep at auction.com and complain, I then speak to a supervisor whom informs me of the closing agent assigned to my case. I've purchased several properties before so I'm not new to this however this is my first and most likely my last purchase from auction.com. I've signed 4 extension forms since that time and it is now 4 months since I won the auction and I now have a closing date of April 6th, I will update final outcome.

Wow! Finally closed on this property it has been the worst real estate transaction ever, it dragged out for 7 months. I finally hired my own title company to get thingsoving faster but I had to agree to pay the final water bill since the bank couldn't seem to get a final water reading for closing, I went to closing on July 24th 2015 and literally 1mins prior to closing the attorney office working for auction.com faxed over revisions for hud 1 which required I pay their $1200. 00 fee which is outrageous I didn't hire them auction.com did. Then they said I agreed to pay these fees in the original contract I signed with auction.com. Well, the entire 7months I continued to check on the property since it was vacant however Bank of America had hired a company by name of safeguard to maintain the property also. The front door had a lockbox similar to the ones the realtors use with code nd keys inside. After closing no one gave me the code to the box so I call safeguard whom informed me to break the box off the door. To my surprise I go to the property bad a the door is open people are actually living in my house I confront them bs they inform me someone claiming to be the owner rented them the house. To make a long story short the person at my house had been scammed by someone whom broke into the property nd claimed to be the owner. This is one reason why I didn't want the closing to drag out so long during that 7 month period someone else broke in nd stole the copper pipes and the water meter. I finally got the people out of the property and now awaiting the deed hopefully this won't take another 7months. I do not recommend using auction.com to purchase real estate, the only good thing I could say came from this was that I got a great property at a great price. But the agrevation was not worth it I could go to the bank and ask for thier REO listings and still get great deals.

My first time with auction.com
Had bid twice from my home computer. Planned to bid in the final minutes up to my maximum price but my bid would not go through. Got auction.com on the phone for the final minutes, totally shooken and frustrated, to be told I could not bid using an iPad.
This should be prominently displayed with the rules. Was told by auction.com employee that I should have KNOWN I couldn't bid using an iPad. SD

Tl; dr: This site is basically a collection of bad banking practices that caused the economic meltdown. Scammy, spammy, untrustworhty, and 100% bad for the buyer. I'd stay away. I wish I already had.

I went to auction.com to bid on a Freddie Mac property. It was on the market for a while, I went to look at it and after the real estate agent representing Freddie Mac wouldn't even take my bid because he felt it was too low. I called Freddie Mac to get a better understanding of their selling agency policies and in normal foreclosure bank fashion they used double speak and shifting to not actually say something that would give them responsibility. Nevertheless This experience made me feel like the listing on auction.com was legitimate.

So when the agent emailed me to let me know it was going to auction, everything felt at least normally legitimate. I was already a little annoyed because I feel like banks aren't awesome and the use of an auction site was to get the highest price while shifting all the undesireable contract terms and costs to the buyer. But, I set my top price lower to accomodate for this and registered for the site without even thinking about whether it was safe or scammy.

I placed the first bid, having read that they would proxy bid to try to brng it up to reserve. I was already annoyed with this, but it felt close enough to business as usual that I just decided to stick to my number and if it wasn't out of reserve to not worry about trying to buy it.

After I registered I placed a proxy bid at the lowest price and then watched it carefully wondering what it would actually sell for and if there was a reserve (not initially disclosed until the auction started). Sure enough there was a reserve, but the reserve amount was not disclosed. Frustrating, but business as usual for one sided power transactions. I got the first big in at 6 am. At about 10 am I was notified someone out bid me. I looked and saw the reserve was not met and just assumed it was the counter bidding process. I ignored it because initially the bid increments were set waaay to high at $10,000 and with a counter bid that meant it was already out of my top price. Then the bid increment was dropped to 5000. I assumed this was the bank realizing it messed up, as the property was basically ignored except for my opening bid and their counter bid. I watched it a bit more closely because something was starting to nag at me and because I realized that any smart buyer would *not* buy this property above a certain amount. Then I saw another bid, and for a second, thinking there was another bidder in the mix, thought about going up just $5,000. But that nagging feeing got to me again.

I realized that as long as the property was under reserve, in the pattern happening on this property, that the last bid was likely a counter bid. Which meant that auction.com had counter bid *twice*in a *row*. And also meant I was the only one in the auction.

At first I was accepting of the coutner bidding thing, pre-auction, just grumbling about how if there was a reserve price with a desire to counter bid like that, they should just start the auction at the reserve price. But during the auction it really became clear to me that when the seller is bidding to boost the price to the reserve, its *not* an auction. Its a negotiation. The site should not use this feature and even pretend to be an auction. Its absolutely shill bidding, and even when disclosed, its dishonest and lacking integrity. Its absolutely the bank's (and auction.com by being the mediary that sets part of the terms) desire to maxmize all the best things while shifting all the worts things about property transfer, but disguising it as an auction.

Its not worth the extra premium, the disencfranchising terms, that loss of protection of the inspection and title work as part of the contract, if the seller through the auction.com designed process, *bids against the buyers*.

I did a search then and came across this site and honestly my heart sank. This was a joint venture buy and its the other guys credit card and phone number on the account, I have to inform him of the risk that A) his credit card number might get stolen and b) he might get spammy calls from an auction site thats only supposed to deal with me, to try to bring up his bid. All because I legitimately thought this was a legitimate avenue based on working with a realtor and freddie mac.

I've only been to two other (live) auctions that were like this and I can tell you nobody wants to work with those banks or auctioneers again. The difference is, that if the second one gets caught, they'll get their license yank/the first bank ended up shooting themselves in the foot, but auction.com is allowed to run this scammy unethical shill bidding process and be legitimized by also ehtically-compromised mortgagers. Worse, the computer clearly kept bidding against itself, the reserve was never over come, and at the end of the auction, the listing completely disappeared, without any trace in the dashboard, history or on the site. Other auctions in the region that concluded are still listed, but marked over. This one is just gone, no trace. I'm guessing by the other reviews its because it didn't sell and it will be back on the auction site again until the house falls down (totally happens in this region, banks insisting on a certain price, dropping it only to still be too high given the deterioration, and then the city tearing it down). Update: Yup, a day after I wrote this review it appeared again as an auction, with the same upening bid, lower bidding increments, and no hint that it was already failed auctioned once. They're going to dragnet for a sucker for this house paying too much, and its going to be sad.

I'm giving two stars rather than one because, while the whole process was uncomfortable and misleading, even where they were upfront, they haven't actually screwed me yet.

I'd like to say I can't believe Freddie Mac would use this site, but the truth is, it and other mortgagers are probably just as home-sale-judgment-and-integrity impaired as the site, they've just had a much longer history to get themselves seen as legitimate in the way they operate business.

I wish I would have looked at these reviews and taken a pass. Now I need to worry about whether they will screw or annoy my business partner, potentially damaging our relationship, because I'm the one who suggested we bid on this site.

The name of the site is misleading because this is not a true auction, not as long as the seller can counter bid. Thats really negotiating while trying to trick buyers into think they are attending an auction with the rules and benefits of an auction and actually bidding. Call it negotiate.com or something else. Not really an auction site. Just another avenue for skeevy mortgagers.

But also seemed to run in circles so it wasn't just me. I read their reviews on their site and all were very positive but as you can see from this site they must be filtering them and just posting good ones or outright fabricated ones. I have a feeling that they have a very low percentage of successful closings.

This site is "ALMOST" a scam. I say almost b/c you can buy something from it and they are honest about the property (usually, about as accurate as eBay and Amazon) and you know the price. You won't be happy with this website or product, trust me. If you are on this website with high hopes to buy a cheap, good, property then you are fantasizing. Here is how it works:

You buy some bids (very expensive):
Find a great property and place your first bid. (say 1,000)
You get extremely lucky and no one else notices (this is best case scenario)
Bank selling the property notices and the computer automatically starts bidding.
You, thinking this is someone else tries to outbid it. (You can but the computer won't stop until the bank is satisfied with the price that they want to sell, since they are controlling the computer bidding against you).
So in the end if you try to outbid it you will not pay 1,000 dollars for a 150,000 property but from 100,000 (if the bank has failed several times to sell this house before and want to get rid of it) to 180,000 (if it is the first time trying to sell this property).

Better of buying with a real estate since he/she charges 10 times less than the bids

Won a so called auction and now I can't get closed because the house was a foreclosure and the closing documents legal description was listed wrong and they are trying to cancel they sale and confiscate my investment in the property, What a load of crap they serve for buyers. I bought four properties from America's auction network and they are the real pro's not these people, Be careful auction.com is not trustworthy.