Buying a house at Auction - Advice Needed

Quote from attgig : one of the houses on the same block of my old neighborhood went through the foreclosure process. and was put on an auction. The guy who actually bought it ended up contacting the auctioners directly prior to the auction. asked if they would take 150k cash, and they accepted. never actually went to auction. (other auctions in that area went around 200k.... ) If you can borrow cash, that may be a surefire way to win it. offer a cash sale to the auctioner prior to everything happening, and they may just go for it if it's a pretty close to fare price. afterwards, take a heloc, and repay.

Exactly! I think this is seriously the best way to go when you're talking about a "dream home".

All cash-offers and without the hassle of auction proceedings. The bank would at the very least entertain the offers.

Quote from amoghthegamer : Home maintanence is a pain, which is why I have a local handyman. He is a retired jack of all trades kind of guy. He even did my water cooling for my computer. anyways, I have to sell since I don't qualify for 90-95% of scholarships since I have a 3.2 GPA. Any 5-digit scholarship requires at least a 3.5 and most people that apply have a >4.0. I can get stafford loans for around 4.5% (part subsidized, part non-subsidized). I did not plan on keeping the properties, I thought I would flip them in a few months and take the profits to feed my stock portfolio but volatility had been high this year so I did not want to put all my eggs in one basket. For 2012, I has a 7.1% return..... Not a good return compared to what I was doing a few years ago....

Ah, unweighted GPA woes...

You can still get scholarships, assuming you had AP classes and solid SAT scores. I managed to get full-rides and other partials directly from colleges with a similar GPA. Had no outside loans to help out as I never qualified.

Regardless, I think that $1300/month over the course of your life will be great. I understand if you're trying to dump them though in case you don't think they'll appreciate as much as other properties. And of course, it's great to have little to no loans to worry about coming out of college. Plus if you're moving away for 4 years, not being there will be annoying for repairs that you may otherwise fix yourself or dealing with annoying tenants when you have more important things to think about (i.e. exams, beer, girls...)

Quote from 1stbuy : Ah, unweighted GPA woes... You can still get scholarships, assuming you had AP classes and solid SAT scores. I managed to get full-rides and other partials directly from colleges with a similar GPA. Had no outside loans to help out as I never qualified. Regardless, I think that $1300/month over the course of your life will be great. I understand if you're trying to dump them though in case you don't think they'll appreciate as much as other properties. And of course, it's great to have little to no loans to worry about coming out of college. Plus if you're moving away for 4 years, not being there will be annoying for repairs that you may otherwise fix yourself or dealing with annoying tenants when you have more important things to think about (i.e. exams, beer, girls...)

The 3.2 is Weighted.... If I get $60 for each property, which I think is highly feasible, that is almost 8 years of rent at once.... Granted my actual net profit is only $30k and 25k on each property.

Quote from amoghthegamer : The 3.2 is Weighted.... If I get $60 for each property, which I think is highly feasible, that is almost 8 years of rent at once.... Granted my actual net profit is only $30k and 25k on each property.

3.2 weighted? Although, having seen how you work on these forums, you seem like a serious case of street smart > book smart. Better get off SD and whoop some SAT/ACT @ss to hedge yourself.

I get what you're saying, and that's fine, but that's probably the case with most properties which are fixer-uppers or you get at a bargain. I just dislike the idea of selling off property which is already solid rental income. At your age to be able to get actual passive income is incredible. Especially if it's not difficult to maintain, and is paid off. You can always borrow against it.

Anyways, I keep sidetracking, back to the OP. I still think he should just talk to the bank/auction house directly before this hits the block. If it's a dream home - do what you gotta do!

Quote from 1stbuy : 3.2 weighted? Although, having seen how you work on these forums, you seem like a serious case of street smart > book smart. Better get off SD and whoop some SAT/ACT @ss to hedge yourself. I get what you're saying, and that's fine, but that's probably the case with most properties which are fixer-uppers or you get at a bargain. I just dislike the idea of selling off property which is already solid rental income. At your age to be able to get actual passive income is incredible. Especially if it's not difficult to maintain, and is paid off. You can always borrow against it. Anyways, I keep sidetracking, back to the OP. I still think he should just talk to the bank/auction house directly before this hits the block. If it's a dream home - do what you gotta do!

My test scores are the reason I was deferred at a few schools rather than outright rejection: 35 ACT w/ 10 Writing. 2340 SAT w/ 800 for Math II, 760 for Molec. Biology, 800 for US History, and 790 on World History. My GPA exact weighted GPA is 3.286, aka 3.3.


I concur OP, if you know which bank owns the property, call them up and find out if they will sell it outright rather that go through the hassle of auctioning it. If the bank finds its worth the money, you'll get the house without having to bid against others!

Quote from amoghthegamer : My test scores are the reason I was deferred at a few schools rather than outright rejection: 35 ACT w/ 10 Writing. 2340 SAT w/ 800 for Math II, 760 for Molec. Biology, 800 for US History, and 790 on World History. My GPA exact weighted GPA is 3.286, aka 3.3. I concur OP, if you know which bank owns the property, call them up and find out if they will sell it outright rather that go through the hassle of auctioning it. If the bank finds its worth the money, you'll get the house without having to bid against others!

I can see the dilemma college admissions must be facing when they see your apps. Raises a big, "What the fark happened?!" Test scores in the top ~0.1% in US, but weighted GPA at best Top 50% of class. It's as if 2 different people are taking them.

And, yeah, only thing is I wonder how it works once they announce the foreclosure auction. Can they just withdraw the sale last minute if they get an offer or is the auction proceeding legally binding once they announce it? I'm sure there has to be a way to back out.

Curious as to why the owners would not really even listen. I think OP should've been straightforward with them and said, "I'm ready to make an offer...if you'd like to at least entertain it so you don't have to deal with the auction." Seems easy enough. Asking about buying other people's homes to the person who is losing their home in a foreclosure seems even more awkward to me. Of course they're not interested in selling...but are they interested in having their home foreclosed on, cause that's what happening regardless, whether they like it or not. Then again, if they were smart enough to understand short sale is better than foreclosure I guess they wouldn't be in this position to begin with. Sounds like they'd rather fight till the finish and still think there's hope of some sort, in which case it could get very messy.

Quote from 1stbuy : I can see the dilemma college admissions must be facing when they see your apps. Raises a big, "What the fark happened?!" Test scores in the top ~0.1% in US, but weighted GPA at best Top 50% of class. It's as if 2 different people are taking them. And, yeah, only thing is I wonder how it works once they announce the foreclosure auction. Can they just withdraw the sale last minute if they get an offer or is the auction proceeding legally binding once they announce it? I'm sure there has to be a way to back out. Curious as to why the owners would not really even listen. I think OP should've been straightforward with them and said, "I'm ready to make an offer...if you'd like to at least entertain it so you don't have to deal with the auction." Seems easy enough. Asking about buying other people's homes to the person who is losing their home in a foreclosure seems even more awkward to me.

Well I think ti might depend on the state. If you state is at-will, sellers can pull anything off an auction as long as the auction for the item has not started. The auction I was at had 3 homes that were pulled. They made an announcement prior to the auction starting that WF had accepted offers but I think only one or two people left...

I had someone else take my tests... jk, I got a C's and a D in language classes. In Spanish I got (4) C's and in English I got (3) C's and a D. However in AP English and Spanish for Junior and my current year I got A's...

Quote from amoghthegamer : Well I think ti might depend on the state. If you state is at-will, sellers can pull anything off an auction as long as the auction for the item has not started. The auction I was at had 3 homes that were pulled. They made an announcement prior to the auction starting that WF had accepted offers but I think only one or two people left... I had someone else take my tests... jk, I got a C's and a D in language classes. In Spanish I got (4) C's and in English I got (3) C's and a D. However in AP English and Spanish for Junior and my current year I got A's...

Ah, so it all comes down to what that states rules are. Good to know, thanks!

And for botching your language classes, haha.

a question. whjere do you guys get foreclosure information? here in NY its only available with a paid subscription. cant find any information for free.

Usually your county sheriff will have that info, since they are usually the ones auctioning off the properties. My county has a website, but they also have info at the courthouse where the auctions take place.