What to know before you buy a home at auction-Tampa, Fl

Home Auctions, Tampa Florida.

When I saw a commercial on TV advertising Home Auctions in Tampa, I thought I’d check it out. I called the auction company and they explained to me that you can place a bid online, or show up at the auction and see the home the day before. There were only a handful of homes for sale on their website and most of them had already been sold 4 days before the onsite auction was to take place.

How you can get a better deal looking at what’s already on the market… short sales, bank owned and foreclosures have flooded the housing market in Florida. The first thing to think about is that you have competition on bids for auctioned properties. That, along with the short supply of seller’s using this method to sell their home, may home investors and buyers think twice about ruling out other options.

Tampa Bay banked-owned properties in September sold for only 62 percent of what nondistressed properties sold for. On a bank owned home for sale you will know if there are any other offers, how long it’s been on the market, what the orginal price was AND get an answer from the bank with in 24-48 hours typically.

Homes that are listed as short sales are an entirely different story. The bank has the option look at other bids, and they may take as long as 45 days to respond to your offer. If you’ve got the time, this may be a good way to get a deal in today’s housing market.

Then you have the MOTIVATED SELLER! Let’s face it…..who is putting their house up for sale unless they absolutely have to? Depending on when the owner purchased the home and how much equity they have, will depend on the deal you can get.

Bank owned and short sale homes are listed in MLS. There is a catch however! If you use an online search tool like Realtor.com, or any other website that lists homes for sale, you may not know that the home is bank owned or a short sale. Why? As Realtors, we have a field for REALTOR only remarks that the homebuyer doesn’t have access to on public sites. Many agents are putting the information in that field, so if you are relying on doing your own search there may be hundreds of properties listed as bank owned or short sale that you are NOT seeing.

In the Tampa Bay buyer’s market it’s all about getting the best deal. Know your options, obtain the services of a REALTOR and do your research.