Foreclosure Properties Auction in Albany Shows Lessons
Challenges faced by bidders at every foreclosure properties auction in Albany, New York show the reality that it is not easy for newbies and most investors to win a property at public auctions.
Slingerlands-based Arnold Greenberg, a broker who has acquired several homes at foreclosure auctions through the years, said that bidding for properties at auctions is not easy despite reports of people getting bargains at live auctions. If it were so, he said, many people would be bidding at auctions and making plenty of money.
Greenberg advised newbies not to jump into auctions without first immersing themselves into the auction environment to be able to observe how auctions are conducted and how bidders act. He said that new bidders could easily be led to bid higher and higher without realizing that the price has shot up over the profitable level.
Newbies, according to Greenberg, are also likely to have no detailed information on the house they are targeting and to have not inspected the structure of the house. Greenberg said that most homes sold at a public foreclosure properties auction are sold off as is and that the possibility of tax liens or second or third mortgages is great.
Bidders also need to make a cash deposit, which is commonly ten percent of the final price. If check is used, it should be a certified check and not a personal check.
Albany lawyer Paul Collins said that he has not seen any bidder getting a bargain all through the years he conducted foreclosure auctions. He said that conducting public auctions is one of the routine jobs available for lawyers, earning them about $550 for the task.
Collins also said that banks always send representatives to the auctions to make sure that their properties are not sold at prices far below the amounts covered by the properties. This is one of the reasons it is really difficult to get a bargain at auctions.
Additionally, according to Delmar lawyer Jonathan Fishbein, scheduled auctions can be canceled at any time by the sellers. Cancellation is especially common when only one property is being auctioned off. The property could be sold before the scheduled auction, the homeowner could file for bankruptcy or a second mortgage could be discovered.
According to real estate lawyers and brokers, newbies planning to bid at a foreclosure properties auction need to observe public auctions first and learn from bidders.
