I hope you have taken to heart my cautions and warnings about the perils of being a do-it-yourself first-timer at real estate auctions. I want you to understand that it is because I care about your best interests, and I know that the hazardous potential for mistakes with auctions that will drain your investment wallet!

I follow up with these tenexcellent reasons for using a good bidding service when buying properties at auction:

1)    Many major cities have bidding services that stay in touch with all foreclosures and auctions and are knowledgeable about how to meet all requirements, bid for properties, honor bidding limits and close the deal for winners.

2)    Bidding services provide lists of properties and information about them. They handle many clients and review many properties for substantive information.

3)    A good bidding service charges a flat fee to bid on a property for you at auction. Some charge a small monthly fee and some an upfront fee, but most only charge you when you are the successful bidder at auction.

4)    The bidding service will provide a title search service. You will know about any tax liens, which lienholder is foreclosing on the property, and what that will mean for all the liens after the sale.

5)    Many bidding services will also inspect the property if there is an opportunity to do so, or they will at least drive by.

6)    The actual bidding process can be chaotic and overwhelming. Sometimes more than one auction is conducted in the same general area at the same time by different trustees. A bidding service saves you from learning on the job.

7)    Your bidding service is one of the aggressive professional bidders who buy properties at auction daily. They have a foothold in the process and are known to the other bidders and the auctioneers.

8)    Did you know that a newbie has a target on their back? It just isn’t obvious to them that professional bidders are bidding them up and otherwise engaging in subtle intimidation.

9)    If an inexperienced bidder makes an expensive mistake, the seller and auctioneer will NOT fix if for them and they will be stuck with their mistake.

10) Some bidding services also fall into the category of property wholesalers. Wholesalers are dealmakers who know the market and the properties and are good at matching the right buyer with the right property and the right deal.

Attend an auction just as an observer and pay attention to the professional bidders who work for the bidding services. You will quickly see why you want one of the best representing you and effectively getting the best price on the properties you want from the auction.

Where are property auctions in your county conducted? Is it typical that multiple auctions run at the same time?

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