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Unfair charges;
I won the property at auction and was ready to close very next day. REDC set the date for July 7th. I called closing company and asked for the closing before July 4th, and was told it will be OK, but REDC did not provide closing company with a contract until cling day, July 7th and we could not close on required date.
Because closing company not having a contract could not set the date for closing, I decide to take a week vacation starting July 4th weekend. On July 7th closing company emailed me that they still don’t have the contract and we can’t close, but the seller is charging me a penalty, $150 per day until closing. I called REDC three times, and each time I was told they will get back to me, but they never did. They also don’t reply to my emails.
I refuse to pay unfair charges, and will not buy property if the charges are not removed and closing done before July 14.
It is unlikely that REDC will refund my deposit of $2500, but it will be to costly to take them to the court. They will screw me up either way.
Grace.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
A house in Pelham, TN was to go to auction starting at 25, 000 and had listed for 79, 900
We were all prepared for auction figured around 85-90 thousand, and 2 days before it was to start it had been pulled off .said someone had done a preauction buy..they had not signage posted any where to disclose this action.so basically some one obviously did a dirty deal and stole it for 26, 100.
I've been a real estate investor for ten years and have a real estate license.
I've never had a contract to close on a house
And been told the seller can back out
What auction.com told me is (after I wired my $2500
Deposit to closing company lineartitle) that Bank of America
Had transferred rights to another release company
And that there's a 50/50 chance I will not close
And they have no idea who the new company is
And I have no way to force them to sell
In real real estate contracts once u sign you're bound to close
Legally.
I don't see how they get away with this. I've also read the
Nightmare stories of people not being returned their earnest money
That's got to be a huge racket ... Drawing that much interest
Steer clear
Dear JoBow,
Thank you again for expressing your concerns regarding our platform. I’d like to set up a call with you to be able to answer any questions you have about our processes and policies. Please contact me or my Customer Service Supervisors Vicky Hernandez or Yamir Gonazles at [protected] so we can be of further assistance.
Sincerely,
Peter Chevalier
Director of Customer Service
ColoradoScott, I dont think that anyone are saying that they are a scam in that sense, just that they rip you off and break some laws if they can make a profit on it. They are very real and it works, but maybe not so often in your favor, or any ones, but their pockets.
Better to find alternatives!
CS - Just trying to understand your 'screaming deal'. Based on your numbers I am totally guessing on how much the house cost, but with a $185k price drop, am guessing its a half million dollar home. So assuming that's remotely close, then this is how it went down:
$685k Original Listed Price, Price drops to $500k but gets no offers so seller puts it on Auction.com and you bought for $440k. Appraises at $550k. After the seller dropped the price to $500k on MLS if you had hit them with an offer of $440k with no contingencies, they would have been hard pressed not to give it very serious consideration. You didn't say whether the 5% auction premium was included, which would have added $25k to the price if it wasn't, which is analogous to a $465k offer on a $500k MLS listing.
My only experience with a similar auction house was we bid $80k on a place while seller had it MLS listed at $85k, seller didn't like my lowball' I guess so puts it on auction site, so accounting for the 5% fee that I now pay, I reduced my bid accordingly $76k. Seller refused to sell at that price. Saw the property MLS listed again a few weeks later (I was no longer interested) and it eventually sold on MLS for $78k. All that posturing by the seller and they lost $2k over what I had originally offered.. Meh, their loss.
I just realized the same people that aren't going to read the contract won't read my post above. Have a nice day.
People calling Auction.com a scam are ignorant. Auction.com is not a scam as my wife and I recently purchased our home from the website and had a pleasurable experience overall. What people need to do is READ THE CONTRACT BEFORE BIDDING. The contract is VERY one-sided and aides the SELLER as much as possible. The $150 per day for delaying of closing is clearly written in the contract. There is also a nice little note in there saying the seller can delay the closing twice in 30 day increments and they do not need to pay anything to the buyer. Like I said it is very one sided. BUT if you READ the contract up front you are informed and know what to expect. They do not use a 'standard' real estate contract so I think this is why so many people are frustrated with the way they do business. Also, for people complaining about the "auction" nature of the site, again, it clearly states in the contract that you are simply placing your best offer on the property and ALL offers are subject to seller approval. Nowhere does it say that the highest bidder is going to win the auction and get the property. I also DO think the auction.com employees are bidding on the properties, but this is not illegal and it is disclosed in the contract. Their best interests are their client's best interests (their client being the seller). SO, most people would say this is a huge hassle, yada yada but the truth of the matter is, the houses they are selling can be bought for CHEAP. We purchased our house $60k under the last posted list price, which had already fallen $185k from the original list price from 6 months prior. Overall, we got a screaming deal and the house easily appraised for over $100k more than what we paid. After all is said and done, we have been in the house for about two and a half months and are happy. Now I will say that I did have one issue with auction.com during the purchasing process. The issue is we did not have a dedicated agent that was in charge of our transaction. Each time we called we were transferred to customer service and whoever was free fielded the call. This wasn't too horrible as they were able to access the file easily, but there was a lot of repeat conversations as you had to fill in the new customer service agent with the same information every call. Also our realtor was not pleased with the 1% commission, but she didn't really do much anyway. Her exact words were "thanks for letting me know when the closing was" as we were leaving the title company.
I Been in the Real Estate business 33 years, my experience with Auction.com was the worst ever!
I wonder how they stay in business?
My guess is, they wont be in business in a couple years, buyer beware, no deals here, just B S !
In reponse to a couple of people who are in favor of auction.com above. This is not a normal auction. Yes, I agree all auctions have a reserve price. However, in car auctions, ebay, antique auctions, etc. a reserve price may be listed and if it sells great and if it doesn't than the seller gets their item back. The real misleading difference with Auction.com is that you are not bidding against other competent bidders - who also have money on the line! Instead you are bidding against the bank, who can bid at anytime, and has nothing to lose except get the property back. Its like going to a car auction and having a phone bidder - bidding against you in the auction. The only problem is the phone bidder is actually the seller. Make sense right! Think about it?
Auction.com is the biggest scam. Please read the terms and conditions very very carefully. What you might not know is that any auction.com representative at any time can bid up to the reserve price during the auction. You are not bidding against other investors but the bank itself. Biggest scam in the world! They are simply trying to goad your purchase price up! Then if you are to win they expect 10% of the purchase price within 24 hours. There are no deals to be had on this website. You are also not paying market value for these properties - you are paying what the bank wants you to pay.
The biggest issue with this type of company is transparency. The employees may be bidding against you, and you have no way of knowing. Maybe the site is legitimate and maybe not, but there is a real fear of bidding against non-existing bidders. And then the reserve is not met, and the bidder has wasted his/her time.
In ebay, the rules allow people to put their highest bid and then the amount increases in an orderly manner up to their highest bid. So this risk is lessened. Also, there are identities that one sees. None of this happens in these circumstances.
It would be great for buyers if there was less traffic on the site. Less competition for serious bidders and hopefully better prices. I understand this isn't what the site or sellers want but I'm personally irritated with people who are unfamiliar with auctions making early bids and raising the prices way too early in the auction. If you seriously want the property, bid properly. If your'e just screwing around and testing the waters, then just sit back and watch, don't bid. You don't win auctions unless you're there during the last 3 seconds with your maximum bid. You're just getting emotional and may waste time and money bidding early.
So if someone post a positive remark then they are automatically an employee? That seems to be the consensus here. Stupid conclusion to draw. Maybe I should draw conclusion that the negative comments are from competitors? Equally as asinine. I've worked in and around real estate for years. Auction.com is a legitmate company. The largest real estate auction company in the US actually. It's main competitor is Hudson and Marshall and I assure you they are just as legitimate and you will run into the same rules that govern Auction.com. Real Estate is highly regulated and there are a lot of governmental procedures they have to follow. Also, banks are the majority of their clients. Big banks such as Bank of America and Fannie Mae not the little ones. They also regulate a lot of the rules. People complaining about deposits(EMD) obviously have never tried to buy real estate. Reserve prices are there on all of the properties as mandated by the banks. It's clear in the contract and disclosed prior to bidding. Auction.com doesn't keep deposits(EMD) from the buyers. They don't see a dime of that. Earnest Money when retained goes to the seller(bank). I've worked on all sides of the real estate from being an agent to working for an REO company to being an investment buyer myself. Yes auction contracts favor the seller greatly. as do REO contracts. The reason for this? Banks make it that way because they know people will still buy that house because they price them cheap. The deals are real. If you don't hit the reserve they give you the option of increasing your bid or getting your money back. They don't keep anyones money that follows the letter of the contract they sign. Just keep in mind when researching scams. There are way more people out their willing to post negatively then willing to post positively.
Well, i was considering using auction.com until i googled whether it was legitimate here.
Overall concensus it seems to be very very negative of this company. If i had read something positive here
(other than what i see as an employee posting his positive affirmations) i may have gone with this company and started
bidding. But with all this bad rap, forget it.
And if the employees at auction.com truly ARE scamming people and making them miserable while unfairly holding their money, word to you...what goes around, comes around. Karma, baby. You'll get payback in the end, for how you treat people, it will come back and bite you real bad some day
Lets get a few things straight. Auctioneers work for their clients, who in Real estate tend to be a) banks b) asset management companies c) fannie/freddy government owned entities, and d) bankruptcy trustees.
They do not care about the buyer. That is not their job. Their job is to make the seller happy. So it definitely is "buyer beware." Their job is to create hype and the "perception" you will get a great deal. Its not to deliver a great deal. Their job is always in the end, to make the seller happy. Not you the buyer.
In some states shill bidding is legal ( like in Arizona) so "fake" buyers can be in the crowd. Be very, very careful. Are all auctioneers crooked? Nope. But they aren't all honest either. Don't get caught up in the emotion. Know your hold price and don't go above it. Not ALL auctioned items have a reserve bid, but most do.
The law is about disclosure. Auctioneers should disclose as much as possible to avoid problems down the road, but not all will.
Caveat emptor ...always...
CommonSense56 is a shill from the site. No doubt one of the "Bidders" used to inflate prices. Post your real name and address and see who comes to pay you a visit.
Auction.com is far from a scam, and happens to be a great platform and company. Anyone with any housing auction experience knows that EVERY real estate auction has reserve prices. That is just the way it works. Whether you go to a live auction or bid online, they all have reserves. Also in regards to all the comments about the deposits they make you put down before bidding on a property, well DUH! Of course they make you put down a deposit, if they didn't then everyone would bid, and there would be no way to tell if the winner is a real prospective buyer. It is insurance against some 18 year old college kid trying to steal a property and waste their time. If the unqualified bidder wins, it would cost Auction.com thousands of dollars in wasted marketing and time. When you are auctioning off 100, 000 to 50, 000, 000 dollar assets, a deposit only makes sense. I know lots of people with great success stories because of auction.com. I also know people who work there, and it is far from a scam. Maybe everyone above needs to do more research on what they are getting themselves into before they complain about nothing.
Not only do they scam the successful bidder, they find loopholes to keep from paying the agent who works with the buyer and moves them forward to a successful purchase.
They tried to get money from me before the auction even began. They wanted me to allow them to use my credit card to "hold" 1000 to prove I am a serious bidder. Before I registered and bid online and it accepted it, but out of the blue it had me do a 3rd register procedure. The guy even personally called me and told me that it was because the selling mortgage company insisted on this. Lets see, you give me 1000 earnest money and Ill "hold' it while Im considering your offer, and then when I decline your offer, because it didnt meet my reserve (that I didnt tell you about) I get to hold your 1000 until I deceide to give it back, more like if I deceide to give it back - Scam
Eventually, these mortgage companies are gonna have to stop playing these games and get serious if they want to get rid of all of the reos that they have and the incredible amount they are about to get
My wife and I are winning bidders.
The listing agent, Auction.com, their referred lender, their closing company, NREIS, have all been incompetent, unprofessional bumblers from day one. The only way they know to be "helpful" is to threaten penalties if it doesn't get closed.
If our purchase actually closes, it will only be because of what I (the Buyer) have done. The listing agent has done zero, not even the minimum required by state law.
I agrees this is a scam they also charge fees and want payment via wire $25, 00 fee and so on... the property I bid on was selling on the market for $69, 000 before the auction and the winning bid was $48, 500, but seller did not except bid?how much did they expect. now they are holding my money.Auction.com is a full blown scam, stay awy at all costs. everything you read is true. You are required to pay $2500 at REDC and 1500 at auction.com. which they will keep for 30days after auction before finally releasing your money.
Yes the stories are true people win auctions only to have the property they rightly won put back on the market with the excuse of the seller refused the winning bid. Someone need to tell these idiots this is not an auction it is a scam and huge joke.
At a real auction the winning bidder wins.
Bottom line if they don't like the winning bid amount they can walk away with no loss.
But if you decide to walk away after supposedly winning an auction they keep your money as penalties and seller damages.
Auction.com is a full blown scam, stay awy at all costs. everything you read is true. You are required to pay $2500 at REDC and 1500 at auction.com. which they will keep for 30days after auction before finally releasing your money.
Yes the stories are true people win auctions only to have the property they rightly won put back on the market with the excuse of the seller refused the winning bid. Someone need to tell these idiots this is not an auction it is a scam and huge joke.
At a real auction the winning bidder wins.
Bottom line if they don't like the winning bid amount they can walk away with no loss.
But if you decide to walk away after supposedly winning an auction they keep your money as penalties and seller damages.
Really sad: If you google auction.com scam, the company actually had an employee (posing as a simple auction atendee) make an 8 min. video saying how great the site is and what a wonderful experience and how helpful all the employees were.(What a joke)
If you notice the video is hosted on auction.com website.
I have been watching auction.com on-line auctions for more than a year. I have NEVER seen a bid meet the "Reserve" price. You can draw your own conclusions...
REDC are also a bunch of cheap [censor]! They live the high life on the beach in Newport while their employees struggle to make ends meet. You know these [censor] holes didnt even give their employees a Christmas bonus!
one confusing thing is when the bid Reserve not met. they can change it anytime still give to you.
So, be very very careful do not try to raise the bid when you think the bid under Reserve will be rejected.
that's terrible.
We are looking at a house in jax, fl for the first time with this AUCTIONS.COM. Saw the house today and the agent was less than helpful, like she didn't even want to be there. The only information she gave us was that the low bid of 29K online was not correct and the seller 'Fannie May" would be looking for much more (like 120K), and they can decline any bid that wins if it isn't enough? Not sure this is a good way to go. It is for my elderly mother (wheelchair bound), spending much of what she has left, and we were thought this may be a good way to go. I still have major doubts? She is thinking of putting in a pre bid online? I wish I knew more to advise her, I am looking! Any info is appreciated!