Billy Burke, CAI - AARE

You are asking a great question and the answer depends on what you mean by a foreclosure auction.

The first thing to remember is auctioneers spend thousands of dollars to advertise and promote each auction and never charge for information.

If you see a website that wants to charge you for free information that the auctioneers pay to put into buyers hands click the red X in the upper right corner of your web browser.

The National Auctioneers Association hosts a free auction MLS website
http://www.naarealestateauctions.com/consumer/index/mls


100% of properties that are foreclosed or taken back by the lender because of non-payment or loan default are offered at public auctions.

The problem is foreclosure auctions are not handled by professional real estate auctioneers, they are conducted by attorneys, bankers and in some states the local county Sheriffs office.

By law each foreclosure must be advertised in a newspaper "circulated in the county the property is located in" which often means a local community newspaper because the rates are cheaper than the big city news papers.

Foreclosure Auction terms are published and they vary from state-to-state. READ THE TERMS & CONDITIONS

For instance California requires payment in full, cash or cash equivalent on the day of the auction. That means if you bid on a house on the courthouse steps and win, you must pay the published deposit, then run to your bank and get a cashiers check for the balance, then run back to whomever the sellers attorney or loan servicer is by the close of business or risk losing your deposit.

In Maryland where I am located and have performed foreclosure auctions the process is more civilized. A fixed deposit amount is published usually close to 10% of the amount owed.

At the close of bidding the winning bidder signs the memorandum of bid and deposit receipt (auction sales contract) AND an affidavit of purchase stating they are not the borrower nor acting for them, then hands over the deposit to the auctioneer.

We hand over all the paperwork to the attorney for the lender and they submit the package to the Judge for court approval of the sale. The buyer then has 15 to 30 days to pay the balance of the purchase price AFTER the judge ratifies or confirms the auction sale.

In most foreclosures the buyer has no chance to inspect the inside of the property because it belongs to the borrowers until the time the judge ratifies or confirms the sale.

Foreclosure auctions on the courthouse steps where one pays cash for a property they have not seen or inspected is still the realm of hard core investors.

People often confuse the auction of foreclosed properties as being the actual foreclosure auction. These properties are known as REO or Real Estate Owned by banks that have already been foreclosed upon.

Due to the large number of foreclosures there are now what we call "Mega Auctions" held in a ballroom style setting with tens to hundreds or even thousands of properties offered at public auction.

The REO auctions are a safer bet for the typical person who wants to buy a single home to live in because they can be inspected and financing is often available from the lender who foreclosed.

Here are links to a few of the larger nationwide auction companies.

http://www.auction.com
http://www.williamsauction.com/
http://www.hudsonandmarshall.com/
http://www.reauction.com

Like I stated at the top of this post, auctioneers spend thousands of dollars to advertise and promote each auction and they never charge for information about when and where an auction will be held.

The top websites auctioneers use to promote auctions are:

1. National Auctioneers Association Auction Calendar
2. National Auction List The Internets oldest auction listing calendar
3. Auctionzip.com The free auction listing service used by thousands of auctioneers across the country.
4. State Auctioneer Association websites

Many auctioneers are starting to use Craigslist, Zillow and other real estate related websites to advertise their auctions. So a google search using the word auction and the location you are looking is another easy free way to find out where the auctions are.


Did you know that over 1-million properties were sold at auction in 2008?

Did you know that less than 350 people hold the Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate or AARE Auctioneer designation?

As an AARE Auctioneer I will tell you little secret about buying a home at auction. Your BEST VALUE will be found in the one-off auction where the property is sold on-site in the front yard or kitchen and not the mega auction.

The auctioneer provides property previews and information plus there are usually only 2 to 7 registered bidders so you are not competing with hundreds or thousands of people in a circus like ballroom setting.

Don't get me wrong we do ballroom auctions and the companies who are producing the mega auctions are all good companies who have tens of thousands of bank properties to sell.

If you have more questions visit our website at www.aareauctioneer.com

Do You Want To Sell Five Properties Next Month Guaranteed?

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Auctions are the fastest growing segment of the real estate market.

The NAR Predicts 1 out of 5 transactions will be auction by 2012

As an Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate (A.A.R.E.) who has been involved in over 3,000 real estate transactions since 1988, Billy Burke teaches you how to sell real estate at auction and offer real estate auctioneering services to your sellers, without becoming an auctioneer in this one day workshop.

This is the only workshop scheduled for your region this year.

Testimonials:

This really and truly looks like it will surpass anything NAA, (National Auctioneers Association) or I should say AMI has ever put out...

Randy Wells, CAI, AARE, CES, GPPA
President National Auctioneers Association This seminar is a must if you want real world experience and knowledge and hard facts you can utilize right out the door...... ... Rick Bryce, GRI,EMS,RECS,ePRo, MCP
Realty Automation, LLC We have been selling some Real Estate at auction, but now I realize that we have been approaching it all wrong... Glenn M. Watson, ATS, CES
Reagan Watson Auctions

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Did you know there are close to 200,000 Realtors in the Mid-Atlantic region and only a few dozen are trained in offering real estate auction services to their buyers & sellers.

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There is only one workshop scheduled for the Mid-Atlantic region:

Saturday March 21st Valley Forge / King of Prussia PA
at the Crowne Plaza Liberty Conference Center.

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AARE Auction Company
P.O. Box 215
Pocomoke City, MD 21851
tel 410.957.4786

www.AAREauctioneer.com