Auctioning vs. selling a home

[Rita]

Anyone here with personal experience auctioning a home? Was it good or bad, would you do it again? Anything in particular to beware of? I always felt it was done in desperation but since have heard more people are opting for this way of selling. Thanks

[Gary in ohio]

If your home is paid off and you want to get rid of the property then auctions are a great way to go. Auctions that have minimum bids are not well attended around here, People are looking for bargins at auctions, if you need to get the most of the house then auctions are not the way to go.

[Natural Beauty Farm]

You always have the option of no-sale though if you don't like the bidding. I bought this farm at auction and the owners said they were very happy with the bidding...... 3 parcels brought 50k more than they were told to expect.

[Michael W. Smith]

In my mind when I hear "auction" I think to myself "Possible bargain."

People at auctions almost expect bargains and the majority of auctions around here are auctioning off the regular household things and at a certain time, they quit with the items and try to auction the house. Around here, most property / house auctions have a reserve (the minimum the sellers will take). The minimum is not mentioned at the auction, and once the auction is going on, they get to the highest bid and then stop and confer with the sellers. The auctioneer then comes out and says either "The house IS going to sell today, so if you are looking you need to jump in." and the bidding continues. If on the other hand, the "reserve" or "minimum" was not met, the auctioneer will come out and say "Sorry folks, the reserve has not been met." Sometimes they continue where the bidding was left off trying to get the bid up to reserve or the bidding is over on the house, and they go back to the household items.

If you want to sell a house quickly, and in the least time possible - an auction is the way to go. But chances are you won't get the maximum you could for it, and the auctioneer takes his percentage.

If you want to get the most possible, sell it yourself or through a realtor. But be prepared for it to take a while (possibly several years) and somebody will be "showing" the house, having to mow the yard / shovel the snow, and continue to pay taxes and utilies on it.

[Lazy J]

We bought our farm at auction in May 2009. It consists of 23 acres with our house, two pole barns, and a second rental house.

Four months prior to the Auction the seller was offered $40,000 more than we paid for the entire parcel for the 18 acres with the house and pole barn. While I don't feel we got a "bargain", we did pay less than we should have.

Jim

[Lyra]

Depends on where you live and the strength of the real estate market. In this region, auctions are used for abandoned or repo homes. No inspections or walk throughs are allowed so the places are in pretty bad shape. If there is a tax lien against the home, then you are responsible for that amount on top of the winning bid.

[sammyd]

My folks had their auction in June. They had an open house and allowed private showings if needed as well.
They didn't get what they needed so they still own it.
The auctioneer has the place as a regular real estate listing for 6 months after the auction.
I attended a farm auction and the place sold for (in this area) a steal and they accepted the bid.

Either way you will pay a commission to the party doing the selling. My folks also got billed for advertising from the auction place, something that never happened through a regular realtor (and they have moved a lot of properties over the years).

[Rick]

Originally Posted by Rita

Anyone here with personal experience auctioning a home? Was it good or bad, would you do it again? Anything in particular to beware of? I always felt it was done in desperation but since have heard more people are opting for this way of selling. Thanks

Our $2000 aution on December 12 2009 had a low reserve but only three bidders showed up. The high bid was exactly what we paid when we bought it 20 years before in '89.
We painted a room and paid a painter $500 to paint 3 more, and listed it through a Realtor. Then he said the lack of a true 3rd Bedroom was turning away prospects. $900 later we had reluctantly paid for a wall between the small Br and kitchen. We rec'd 1 contract and the buyers inspector and FHA INSPECTOR had a $5000 list of repairs. We had to do everything the FHA "decreed", and agreed to some from the private list totaling 2K more. We are up to 6 Thousand now. We went to settlement on the house April 12, 2010 so All's well that ends well.

I can't recommend an auction unless similar homes auctioned since 2008 have brought desired funds in your neck of the woods.

[Haven]

I bought a rental dirt cheap at an auction, and around here many properties go really cheap. My mother made an offer on a home and the sellers refused it, after sitting on the market for 6 more months and spending 10k on new windows, they decided to auction it, and she wound up being the highest bidder AND she paid 20k less than what she had previously offered the sellers. A friend just sold their place at auction and only one bidder jumped in, one of the auctioneers got on the phone and drove the bidding up by pretending there was another bidder on the line - the buyers were not happy. Auctioneers around here are notorious for planting fake bidders in the audience. I would only go the auction route to sell if it were an emergency.

[springvalley]

This is something I know a little bit about, I was an auctioneer for 26 years. Auctions have always been a good way of moving items quickly, I could list your personal property and in two weeks have the auction and that day it will be all done. Now realestate is another cat, we have sold homes for alot more than they wanted and some for less. And a few where a disaster, no where near in the ball park for what it was worth. Farms sold at auction are very good, if you have two neighbors that would like that piece of land they will pay more than they had planned on just because they don`t want to loose it. I have even advised a couple people how to have their own auction, you don`t have to be fast to be a land auctioneer. In todays economy I would not recomend selling at auction, just won`t be a good idea. The auction business mentality has changed alot over the years, that is one reason I retired from the business. >Thanks Marc

[Rita]

Well, it doesn't seem like there are very many sellers that are pro-auction. Thanks for the replies. Rita

[WhiteWillow]

Originally Posted by Lyra

Depends on where you live and the strength of the real estate market. In this region, auctions are used for abandoned or repo homes. No inspections or walk throughs are allowed so the places are in pretty bad shape. If there is a tax lien against the home, then you are responsible for that amount on top of the winning bid.

I cannot imagine purchasing a house site unseen.

[buffalocreek]

I cannot imagine purchasing a house site unseen.


I sold a fixer house to a guy in Texas (house was in Nebraska} on an ebay auction. Bought it for $2K, sold it for $6K. That was the second house I'd sold site unseen.