Auction.com Reviews: Complaints and Alternatives

What is Auction.com?

Auction.com is an online auction marketplace & technological solutions oriented company, solely dealing in bank-oriented residential, foreclosure & short-sale properties. 

Looking to buy properties in an auction? Then auction.com could be your go-to for bidding on foreclosed properties & short sales.

Auction.com provides complete transparent information about the property details with buying and selling options through methods of data science.

A foresight into auction.com reviews will help you understand about company better.

Is Auction.com Legit?

The Auction.com company has a mixed take from buyers and sellers on the internet.

Though auction.com has a good user interface, many reviewers, critics and customers have claimed that the business has hidden legalities, transactional business sales with uninformed liens, and hidden reserve fees on some bank-owned residential properties.

So, on neutral grounds, we recommend you conduct thorough research on auction.com and the properties that interest you. 

Apart from bidding on an auction site, you could also refer to a Flat Fee MLS like Houzeo for other property options.

👉🏻For Sale By Owner Websites: Check out 12 Best For Sale By Owner Websites in 2022

How Does Auction.com Work?

Auction.com has a vast array of properties on its website with a live display of options regarding the bidding process.

The two major types of bidding processes on this website include ; 

• “Online Auction” where you place a bid on the website itself through the local county site they provide.
• “In-person Auction” where you place a bid physically at the mentioned auction location.

Furthermore, for details on purchasing a property from auction.com, you can find the required information on their website. 

So we advise you to first, pay attention to all the mentioned attributes related to the property like;

✨No. of Bedrooms and Baths

✨Square Footage

✨Lot Size (in acres)

✨Property Type

✨Year the Home was built in

✨Case File No.

Now auction.com company asks to go through the due diligence required before bidding on a property.

Due diligence is very straightforward from the perspective of auction.com. Plus they do a great job of giving you a step-by-step guide for a buyer.

⭐Step 1: To review the property information on your own first

• Examine all third-party property condition reports
• Cross-verify market value and neighborhood information

⭐Step 2: Inspect the title of the property and Liens affiliated with it   

• Refer to the document attached as the title of the property
• Scan for any hidden liens

⚠️Caution: A lot of times when a person fails to pay their full mortgage amount, the pending amount to be paid is added as ‘liens’ to the property, in terms of bank-owned residential properties and foreclosure properties.

An issue might occur if you do not detect the liens on the property before making a purchase which will result in the amount of the liens being transferred to your title and you will have to pay it to the bank which previously owned that property.

Houzeo strictly directs you to first hire a professional auctioning agent so as to avoid any losses at all.

⭐Step 3: Check the Sales Document attached to the property

• For better information on the seller’s terms and conditions
• Your rights as a buyer

⭐Step 4: Getting ready for the auction 

• Auction.com doesn’t conduct the sale personally, instead asks you to contact the County or Foreclosure Sales agent to gain information about the terms of sale and the amount of funds required on auction day.

Note: Auction.com strictly mentions this on their website.

• Govt. issued ID is a must like a driving license or a passport.
• A very strict requirement of cashier’s checks in the form of different denominations as proof of funds 
• Necessary documents if you are buying as a separate entity (Eg: An LLC )

After you sign-up on auction.com, they provide you a better market analysis of the property you select. 

These features include the main information a buyer thinks of while making a purchase such as;

1. Local Comparatives: With this feature, a buyer can compare a selected property with other properties of the same value.
2. Rental Estimate: The feature which helps you gain a perspective about the selected property’s rent an owner will receive if at all one were to rent their home.
3. Sales and Tax History: Awareness about the property you are interested in will lead to a healthy purchase which can happen if you are well informed about the sales history and tax information about it.
4. Neighborhood: Auction.com provides very helpful insight into the property’s surroundings, neighborhoods, essential stores, schools, and other places of basic needs. 

Ultimately when you finalize a property, you must put your bid depending on the type of sale it is.

If it is an online auction, then a credit card will suffice for a deposit, otherwise, you must bid at the site of the auction physically with cash.

⚠️Caution: In many states, auction.com does not have complete power over the bidding process and transactions rather the local county or a government assigned auctioning agent has the majority of involvement.

Also, for some properties directly sold via auction.com, such as foreclosure properties, the auction.com company can bid up the price of the property themselves so as to meet the reserve if not met.

In defense of auction.com, they have mentioned this in their company terms and conditions beforehand.

Auction.com for Buyers

Buyers have multiple options of homes to buy at auction.com, including foreclosure properties, bank-owned residential properties, and properties marked as short-sales.

But all the basic agenda of buying a home boils down to the buyer bidding the maximum amount and winning the bid, thus owning the title of the property.

⚠️Caution: Buying through auction.com involves a complicated process of firstly competing with potential buyers alongside the anticipation if ten-x ( the parent company of auction.com ) themselves will bid for the property further and then follow stricter guidelines to close the transaction.

👉🏻Pro Tip: Buying on Auction.com is realtor free and no amount of buyer, seller or agent commission is charged to you, for bidding on a property, however, you must pay a premium of $2500 or minimum service charge of 5% when you are interested in buying a home.

👉🏻Buy a House without a Realtor: Check the guide on How to Buy a House Without a Realtor.

Auction.com for Sellers  

Since auction.com deals appreciably in distressed properties which are bank-owned or foreclosed on failed mortgages there is no clickable button to list a home via auction.com directly for a common buyer, however, if you are a bank entity affiliated to the REO you must contact auction.com or your local county.

👉🏻Pro Tip : Auction.com is primarily for buyers for which we recommend that you calculate and compare your home’s final closing cost if you are looking to sell your property.

👉🏻How to List on the MLS: Check our guide on How To List On MLS For Sale By Owner In 2022

Auction.com Reviews

No government auction.com reviews are available for a test of legitimacy on the internet.

Also compared to auction.com reviews complaints take up a certain amount of space on the net.

The most positive review about auction.com is by G2.com which provides business and marketing services. They have rated auction.com a total of 3.6 stars out of 5.

Sitejabber.com concludes with a transparent consumer rating of 2.42 stars out of 5 which are mixed reviews of 413 buyers and bluntly states that on average customers are generally dissatisfied with the customer service and the real estate business they dwell in.

Yelp.com, a well-renowned business reviewing website rates auction.com as 1.5 stars out of 5  from a total of 59 reviews from brokers and common buyers both.

Auction.com Pros and Cons

✅a variety of options from distressed, foreclosed, short-sale and bank-owned residential properties

✅accessibility to cutting-edge software for better transactional process and user interaction

⛔Very unethical customer care and consumer connect

⛔Has tons of hidden legalities which are not mentioned on the website

⛔The majority of auction.com reviews on the net are on the negative side

⛔Complicated bidding and buying process with unreasonable and fraudulent motive charges on some properties

⛔A very short window for the arrangement of funds to close the transaction 

Auction.com Customer Reviews 

Diving into reviews about auction.com throughout the internet ;

✅Real, Absolute, and Complete Information about Inventory

and Property details

A freelance real estate executive assistant to a real estate broker/investor comments that auction.com is very useful for investors because of all the sufficient data they provide about all the bank-owned residential properties and foreclosed properties.

Peggy N. says auction.com provides enough insights about the listed properties for one to make an educated decision about buying a property.

✅Unique Property Listings

Most of the happy customers of auction.com are satisfied with finding distressed properties which are not visible on standard MLS platforms. An anonymous user gives a review of 4 stars for the vast variety of unique properties auction.com offers.

✅Agent Free Service 

Auction.com directly lists properties without any middlemen involved due to which a lot of customers get a healthy service without having to deal with local agents/brokers to search for and buy properties which in turn cancels out any commission a buyer has to pay for a purchase.

⛔Zero transparency with after-bid details, transactions, and other important customer awareness guidelines which is a must.

The majority of auction.com reviews on the internet will direct you towards the intricate terms & conditions of auction.com rightfully mentioned by some real estate brokers and buyers for advising first-time buyers.

Richard Marshall is a real estate broker who has given an informative and alarming review of the after-bid process the buyer goes through to close the deal on biggerpockets.com. Marshall’s personal first-hand buying experience sheds light on all of the hidden catches for buying through auction.com.

Basically, buying through auction.com is a very tedious process that involves paying huge amounts of deposits for bidding with the risk of losing everything if the reserve is not met.

Secondly, buyers can buy houses with cash only that too with a very strict and unreasonable demand of signing the contract within a day and closing the deal within a month all with physical cash deposits only in turn causing inconvenience in terms of contract length.

Thirdly the $50K “Premium” or 5% of the purchase price results in the buyer paying more than what they closed the price at, as unaccommodating leverage over the buyer.

This is stated as a hidden additional charge bothersome to most buyers, especially first-time bidders.

Also “Ten-x”, the parent company of auction.com has the right to bid the property up themselves so as to meet the bank’s reserve requirement which causes a hindrance in the buyer pool and is morally unethical to investors.

Instead of auction.com you could find other businesses who are cash home buyers.

⛔Poor and Substandard Communication

Tons of customer reviews tell that auction.com has a very irresponsible customer care service with zero efforts for communication from their side.

Ed’s experience is an indication to the buyers that they must do a thorough background check before investing in a property from auction.com.

Auction.com Alternatives

If bidding on properties in an auction isn’t your only choice to buy a property, you have tons of other options too.

Like buying a property from your county’s legitimate MLS or other tech-driven companies with their personalized MLS and the list goes on.

1. Houzeo.com

 

2. Ten-X

Should You Buy a Home from Auction.com

Auction.com’s reviews point towards a negative direction due to which it is only logical to not go through the hefty process of bidding on this site.

We at Houzeo recommend that instead of buying a home on auction.com, you should consider other auction sites like Ten-X or going through your state’s MLS for wide property options.

Frequently Asked Questions about Auction.com

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