thanks so much!
Tiffany

 

John responded.......I looked into it and just like you would fear if it is to good to be true it is to good to be true.
 
This is a real snakey deal. One of the reasons you have to be careful is because you and I are an honest ethical people and you just don't expect people could be so hard as to do some of the things they are doing in this.
 
They have blended an auction and short sale into one. The sale price you see is not the sale price at all. This next cut and paste is from the document (see attached) from the MLS listing to so you can see it yourself. It says

Bidding will start at the listing price on the MLS.
If the final bid is not high enough to cover all loans, taxes and real estate fees, then the final bid will be subject to lender approval.
The final bid will be subject to lender approval means this is really a short sale. The "asking price" of $74,888 means absolutley nothing.
 
Notice it goes on to say that if you are the "high" bidder and anyone comes along at anytime before the deal actually closes and offers something higher then you have the right to out bid this higher offer but if you don't then the new higher bidder gets the deal. That is why you are seeing it here on Redffin. The auction was more than a month ago, but they are still advertiseing and trying to get a higher bid to bump the highest bidder off. This is an "auction" that stretches on for months. The reason the MLS advertised price is so low is to make sure it catches everyones eye. This whole thing is shameful.
 
I also picked up in the fine print that some of the people that you are bidding against you may actually be employees of the "Statewide auction company", the company that is doing the "auction". In other words they are driving the price up. Very unethical but technically not illegal so long as they disclose it in the fine print as they have.
 
There is a bunch of other stinky slight of hand things that are to technical to explain in this email in this deal.
 
There are good honest deals out there it is to bad there are this kind of stuff mixed in with the batch.
 
Here is a video that shows how real estate auctions are being abused. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byz2mYsTjtI&NR=1
 
Thanks for asking for my input on this Tiff. I am blessed to help. Contact me anytime. Don't feel bad that you didn't see the downside of this, you where being careful thats why you asked me. The more I learn about real estate the more I learn about the tricky little corners the unethical hide in. Be of good cheer though, there are a lot of honest people out there and when you guys are ready to buy I am sure you will be able to get a good deal without getting all this dirty stuff all over you.   smile  
Happy to help anytime. John