Buying off Auction.com without agent or do most use an agent?

Question

I am fairly new to using Auction.com and although my last rental was bought of their it was somewhat of a fluke because I had originally submitted a cash offer the day it went to auction so my real estate agent I normally used handled the offer submital through Auction.com. Although the whole process was a royal pain in the *** I find that most of the foreclosures I am looking into tend to make it here before they hit the price point that I am looking at paying.

The latest is a 3/1 in which I would like to make an offer on but as I never "bid" on the first one and my agent did it for me I was wondering if this is required or I guess more so advised. Based on what I read it seems not and I guess I could just register. If I am to do it myself what should I be watching out for that would be typically handled by the buying agent?

The main thing I noted was getting title insurance which for the one I am looking at is paid for by the "Seller" which was the same as my prior purchase.

Jared

Jared McCullough · Answer

The title search I had performed as part of the last deal did as you are suggesting in which as part of the final HUD Package I received letters from municipalities and utility providers of no standing charges. I do understand that it is not "free" though and is an embedded cost in the process.

I would be interested in understanding that if I did not use a buying agent if the additional funds saved would just go to the listing agent or would I actually be saving money in the end?

Wayne Brooks · Answer

@Jared McCullough The title searches/insurance offered by the REO title companies, at least here in FL, are not “full” title searches....they are typically just encumbrance reports which only find recorded liens.  Here we have the potential for “unrecorded” liens....code violations, utilities, etc.  To find those, a city/county search, by actually sending written inquiries to the various dept.s must be done...and extra $200 or so and takes a couple of weeks.

The REO title companies will exclude these potential liens in the B section of Exceptions.  And their title policies are not actually “free” as these title co.s typically tack on additional junk fees, beyond the norm.

Jared McCullough · Answer

Could you potentially expand upon this statement as through the last purchase I worked with an agent who had done 100's of REO deals and he advised that there was no need to pay for an additional title insurance in that the seller paid option was sufficient. Obviously I would be apt to miss out whatever it is you are infering is the problem but would like to have at least a basis to ask an informed question to him on.

I was not advising I was 100% against using my agent just on the forth front I ended up doing 90% of the work directly with the staff from Auction.com on the last deal.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

You son’t want to accept the “free” title insurance......an agent experienced with reo’s can tell you why......along with a host of other things you haven’t considered.