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I was a participant for Alameda County Tax Defaulted
Property Auction which was held on Mar. 20 and 21,
2008. The auction was hosted by Bid4assets.com. I own
the Auction for a parcel of land in Livermore, CA for
over $800, 000. As instructed by Bid4assets.com, I
immediately wired the full payment for the auction
property to Bid4assets.com’s bank account. However,
immediately after they received the full payment, I
received a phone call from a lady from Alameda County
Tax Collector. She told me that the sale has to be
canceled since there was an error due to the county.
The auction supposed to be the final sale, how can it
happen? She also told me that the money will be
refunded by the county and I have to wait..
I immediately called Bid4assets.com and talked to
their Senior VP and the person who was in charging the
tax sale for Counties. Believe or not, the person in
Bid4assets.com said there is no cancel any auction and
he talked with the County everyday. I asked him to
contact with the County to verify this canceling of
the my winning bid, he refused and told me that no
matter what, my money will be sent to the county. Then
he handed up the phone, very unprofessional.
I just cannot believe what he was saying. Since the
auction hosted on the bid4assets.com was a fake one,
the seller has nothing to sell to me, I told them that
I own the county nothing since they did not sell to me
anything, the bid4Assets.com has no right to send any
of my funds at their company to the fake auction
seller. I also requested them to send my fund directly
to me instead of illegally transfer to a known fake
auction seller.
Assume if Ebay has known that seller was selling
nothing on Ebay, would Ebay-Papal send the payments
from the Buyer to the known fake auction seller? OC,
no, this is a very common sense. I just cannot believe
that the bid4assets.com will do something like this. I
understand that by doing such illegal money transfer,
they could make a lot of money from the auction
commissions.. However, can they really do this kind of
“wire fraud” to get the commissions?
Never ever put a big bet on Bid4Assets.com, they are
just a group of people making money from the bidders
by Fraud. Bid4assets.com never care about their
customer’s money, they only care about their
commissions! Until today, they still have not return
my email after they have verified with the county that
the auction was canceled by the county. I cannot
believe such a poor company can gain business from the
government. I am going to work on this and make sure
more and more people know how bad this bid4assets.com
is!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Warning scammmm alert
I bought my 1st property from bid4assests in 2022. I thought I had achieved the American dream. I had just graduated from college with a culinary degree. And was ready to start my new life right, well I thought I was. I bought my property from the seller over a 3 months period . I was communicating with the seller regularly. And she told me after she told me that after I payed off my purchase to the land, it was ready to be moved on. We'll I was SCAMMED. I had worked hard for 2 1/2 years to save for this property. Day and night and it was not easy for me being a single mother to dy that. So I should have researched the property. But I was just so excited and believed her that the property was great and ready to move on. So after paying off the property to her. I went to Florida to get everything set up on the land. I bought an acreage of land from her. And was told that by Palthka Florida county government my land wasn't liveable. The requirements that I had to have 2 acreage to live on because I would need a well and a septic tank and the seller knew it. Because she told me that she too also lives in Florida herself . That lady was FRUADGENTLY and told me all lies. After she took my money she has cut off all communication with me and has refused to return to me my money. Someone reading this I hope that you do not go through the nighmare I have gone through here . And please pray someone my daughter and I get something nice. Thank you for reading my story. And please don't use this website. Are you may end up with nightmare too.
Thank you all for your comments. you've saved me lots of money, time and aggravations. Some of the deals on the site do look good. However, I always do a quick research for complaints on companies such as bidforassest before I proceed. I came across you folks comments... I Thank you.
Counties' bad info is only ONE PART of the problem. There are plenty of shady scammer sellers on the Bid4Assets site as well as poor site management that doesn't police the scammers selling bogus properties on the site. That's THREE REAL PROBLEMS!
I bought some properties thru Bid 4 assets in texas and Utah years ago .. now m trying to sell because i have been paying taxes real estate lady told me this if i bought this land from online this land is worth for nothing because some counties created fake parcel numbers to sell this land and earn some tax on it.. and bid 4 assets made big money by selling those land. be careful guys.
Beware! I purchased a parcel through Bid4Assets, met all the requirements, and the deposit was paid in full in a timely manner. The deed was recorded, and several months later the County of FRESNO rescinded the sale without any consideration what so ever.
Bid4Assets asserts that ALL SALES ARE FINAL!
BIDDER BEWARE! They are fast and strict to take your money but they cannot guarantee a SALE!
If you lost a parcel through Bid4Assets, surly the COUNTY can rescind the sale as they did to MY PURCHASE.
It clearly states that it is YOUR responsibility to find out everything about the property before you bid on it. I bid on a property next door to me, and the bids went way too high for that property - especially since I had researched it both with the county tax office and the HOA management company. The clowns that won the auction didn't know that there was a total of $24, 000 in back taxes and HOA dues payable upon acquisition of that house. They didn't know. But I knew. As my second grade teacher, Mrs Utich used to say: Tough.
I went thru bids4assetts but I never bided. I contacted the seller with an offer. We accepted a price and I went to my bank. I was buying from a bank an a pretty big one. I wired the money over directly to the bank, signed a sellers agreement, got one signed back. Waiting on the deed. However on the wire I put for the purchase of the address sold. Gave them the money for bid4assett and so far so good. All I can say is don't be afraid to contact the owner directly, and I stick with banks and such
Like most companies bid4assests is out to make a buck...end of story...the law lets the company and sellers legally of the hook for anything they "misrepresented" with 2 simple words "due diligence" . So let the buyer beware. A much bigger problem is the counties themselves- often the very wrong info listed on this site is exactly what the county assessors office have on file as public record. I saw a property in CA in San Mateo County it has an APN and it was zoned R1 - which means it is a lot that a single family home could be built on. But after doing A TREMDOUS AMOUNT OF TIME CONSUMING CHECKING AND RECHECKING (took weeks to get to the truth) and spending some money I found out from the assessor that the INFORMATION FROM THE COUNTY ASSESSOR WAS WRONG! And I only found this out because I kept asking them questions about their parcel map which didn't look correct to me. I GOT 2 DIFFERENT NUMBERS FROM THE ASSESSORS OFFICE on the sq ft for the lot ( both were off by 100s of sq ft !) and it turns out that even though the county zoned the lot for R1 it would take an act of congress to even put a tool shed on the property! I was told by SMC Planning and Bldg Dept that it was going to be next to impossible to develop anything on this R1 zoned lot, even though the county had allowed a house to be built several years prior on the same land. I was told its a "marine reserve" and there is "land erosion", fair enough. So why would the SMC zone the lot/land R1? . Yet it did. Bid4assests listed it R1 because the county listed it R1. I wouldn't be surprised if SMC buys the phony R1 lots for pennies on the dollar, puts up a retaining wall ( via tax payer exspense, or decides that the land erosion wasn't all that bad after all, and then sells it to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve- who will then put up a building on that land that the SMC wouldn't allow residents to develop. I will be keeping an eye out for it in the coming years. COUNTIES AND THEIR WRONG, CRAP "INFO" ARE THE REAL PROBLEM!
The County has the final Say, Just because a company is conducting an Auction for the County,
Means nothing Every state has there own Tax Sale Law, and Revisions also there are redemptions in some cases
Very delicate, One final note when investing $800, 000 wouldn't it make sense to put a team on the ground
Get the deed from the seller, and then go after the property and pay the taxes, or bring them current
Just a Thought
Not quite getting your petition
Big Al NY
Sometimes it works out fine, I'm happy with my little homesites in Ca from "Dennis29" and I also had problems after paying for a house in Detroit before Christmas and still no deed after they had my money. So it's a gamble either way, Karina 026
Wow.Reading all of these complaints I am a little nervous about the up coming auction I am planning to participate in. There is a cute little house going up for auction that I would really love to have. It will be my first time buying a house. I dont have a lot of money so I though this would be the way to go. Should I talk to a real estate agent.
I placed my bid deposit for Santa Clara county tax auction. I cancelled my participation before the auction started. After 13 days of my cancellation, I called but no answer so I went to the site to inquire why I haven't received my deposit refund. Then, I received a response that my refund was just mailed (after my complaint). I don't know when I'll receive my refund but I am sure it will be over two weeks. This is not a good business practice. Refunds should be made in timely manner like within ten days as stated by their site.
I strongly believe that Bid4assetts deserves at least Grand Jury review in many of the counties I tried to participate in. I have participated in about 4 different counties Bid4Assetts auctions. On the latest one, I had done all the steps to participate, which by the way is considerable effort on the participants part! Of course this includes all of our due diligence including hours of research and travel to the sight for physical inspections! Then after the final tax redemption period (Usually last business day before the auction) I placed my bid. Then as soon as it started the parcel was removed! No warning, no reason, no justification or explanation, just gone. Of course their sight tells you over and over your screwed if you change your mind, but they can with not one bit of stated justification. By the way, whatever did became of those properties hmm? I gave up. Good Luck!
My understanding on the bid4assets.com. A bidder is bidding on the property tax. The owner have a redemption period. If the owner of the property does not pay up, then who ever holds the tax lien get the first choice of owning the property before it goes to the bank. Bid4assets.com is not the site to buy a property. Go to a REALTOR. This website is for investors who flip houses for living. Don't start bidding on property that you have not truly inspected. Also, read the disclaimer or the fine print.
If you are going to bidding, check with the county before you bid, regarding about the property. Make sure that you can afford what needs to be repair and other fees that are attach to the house. Inspect the property before bidding and if you win and end up with a headache. Then you haven't really done your homework.
P.S. English is my 2nd/ 3rd language. Think twice before you make fun of my grammar because I probably know more languages than you.
Is it true that in Missouri there is a seller asking only 176 a month and no credit check. When the deal is too good think twice.
aha its good i read this for am interested in a 3.7 acreage in missouri and the 176 per month is questionable. When the deal is too good think twice
Well if this is how anyone runs their business, then its up to the buyer to take the precaution. Looking at the website itself (Im a webdeveloper), I felt that it wasnt up to par. For example, you see how ebay is set up, promoting its sellers, allowing feedbacks, etc. This site lacked so many things for me, thats y I decided to checkout their reviews. And I must say, Im not surprised at all!
They have a property in Florida currently up for bid, I checked it out and it the entire building was condemned not to mention the pictures were altered. I called and informed them that someone was selling a property on their site with bogus information and they simply said there was nothing they would do. I have now seen this property up for sale on the site two additional times after. Something needs to be done so that they don't continue to rip people off.
just curious, you are all talking about tax foreclosed property, have any of you read the disclaimer?
I came across this site through Wayne county treasury, Michigan which uses this site as a third party to host the auctions, now there is some info both on this site and the Wayne county site describing what is actually being sold, which to the best of my understanding only the tax debt/lien/claim, whatever you want to call it.
I am no expert, myself I am only trying to understand the process, but is very clearly stated not to confuse these auctions with a real estate transaction, particularly in Michigan there is a law which enables the county to do this in an effort to collect delinquent taxes, that is all, there is a way to go from a quit claim deed to full ownership but that is a whole other story, there may be leans on the property that were not cleared in the tax foreclosure process, you may end up with a property that has a $ 300 000 mortgage that has not been cleared, it is very clearly stated that it is bidders responsibility to figure all that out before they bid.
The county also reserves the right to pull the transaction at any time before the deed is issued for several reasons ( government interest, owner decided to pay up, or just because)
if any of you actually know the process, I would appreciate the feed back, the auction is pretty straight forward, though it does not guaranty ownership/use for intended purpose of the property, and that is pretty clearly stated, there is a process in the aftermath to go from quitclaim to ownership, and that is where I am unclear, it differs by property history, and like previously stated even when you have ownership, you may still need to fork out $200 000 to run utilities, as is where is there are no other guarantees made, heck it even says properties may be landlocked/polluted, you name it whatever you can think of, you're buying the tax debt that is all.
Bid4assets.com is a scam! They create properties using a fictional business called lotsoflots out of Arizona. You win a bid and they demand a check with no way to verify anything and they do not go through a title company. When you refuse to just send a check to the fictional company, they charge your account $250.
@jesse7312, Regarding Kevin's grammar:
Has it occurred to you that English might be a second language for some investors?
Given this country's personal debt situation, it should not be a surprise that non-native English speakers are among those buying distressed property assets.
And, given this country's public debt situation, you might want to tone down the arrogance until your children have had a chance to perfect their Chinese writing skills.
Kevin has the money, you've got grammar.
Money talks, bull**** (& grammar) walk.
You really have to be careful on here. A seller was listing a property as 6 bedrooms and 2 baths and 2, 000+ sq ft. It turned out it was a 3 bedroom 1 bath house at 936 sq ft. straight from tax records and confirmed. I asked bid4 assets in the middle of the auction how they could let the seller misrepresent and they simply told me it is up to the buyer to do due diligence and if I bid on something and didn’t come through they would cancel my account which I thought was sidestepping the question and totally irrelevant. It seems knowingly allowing a seller to list fraudulent activity is negligent on their part. There is a lot of deception on here.
To Jesse 7312: I have never used bid 4 assets just checking them out today I saw your response to the original complaint. I have been following a few properties and doing the due diligence on 2 of them one of them I actually called a real estate company to help me with the transaction an was told the house can not be occupied and never has been. There was Mortgage Fraud committed on the entire development and due to the fight between the builder and the power company there was never power run to any of the homes. So to run power to that home would run about $200k because of how far it has to be run. So far the bids are up to over 5k on a house that according to the city has a non occupy and condemned status on the house. So you see they are offering homes they know are not habitable to me that is fraud. I also checked on one in Ohio and it was almost the exact same thing back taxes liens from utilities and even a fight in probate court. How can you offer a home for sale that is in the middle of probate court. This is not a good way to invest money. And see I can spell!
To Kevin: I have never used bid 4 assets just checking them out today I saw your response to the original complaint. I have been following a few properties and doing the due diligence on 2 of them one of them I actually called a real estate company to help me with the transaction an was told the house can not be occupied and never has been. There was Mortgage Fraud committed on the entire development and due to the fight between the builder and the power company there was never power run to any of the homes. So to run power to that home would run about $200k because of how far it has to be run. So far the bids are up to over 5k on a house that according to the city has a non occupy and condemned status on the house. So you see they are offering homes they know are not habitable to me that is fraud. I also checked on one in Ohio and it was almost the exact same thing back taxes liens from utilities and even a fight in probate court. How can you offer a home for sale that is in the middle of probate court. This is not a good way to invest money. And see I can spell!
@ Kevin: I believe your complaints would have been better if you actually used proper grammar i find it hard to believe that you had 800, 000 to bid on an item and yet cannot spell or in the very least make a legible complaint. Consumers should research all complaints i agree, but your complaint sounds more like someone who probably couldn't read or write and now wants to blame a company for your own mistakes. I recommend the next time you want to throw away 800, 000 dollars try throwing it in the direction of an education.
@Kevin ... What a [censored]. Get life...
@Kevin - Well "I" is capitalized 800, 00 should be $800, 000. Your punctions are missing and/or incorrect. You might want to get a loan from this customer to get yourself an education. Idiot...
Hello this is a customer i believe your right i placed a bid on bid4assets i still cant believe i won. I did my research on this and found your comments i do believe you i haven't sent money and I'm going to turn there butts in when i confirm that they are a fake Company stealing consumers money.
They have a TEN (10) day waiting policy on deposit refunds. I'm still waiting for my refund of $4, 000, and it has been over 10 days. I wouldn't trust these guys to walk my dog.