Online Property Auction: Turning Misfortune into a Fortune

While it's difficult to imagine finding a silver lining in someone's financial difficulties, the fact is that repossessions and liens can be turned to your advantage. These houses often wind up in an online property auction, open to bidding from the public. Even during a downward turn in the housing market—in fact, some would say especially then—this can be an extremely profitable opportunity for those with the right skills. These skills include having the ability to see when a house is being undervalued and knowing how to bring it up to market value before selling it.

The concept of bidding on foreclosed houses is nothing new. Sheriff's sales and similar events have been a part of our lexicon for many years. But an online property auction takes that bidding process and puts it on a national scale. No longer do you have to be a resident of a particular area to attend the event. This presents a wonderful opportunity to bid on houses from around the country—houses you would never have known about were it not for the internet.

Of course, foreclosures aren't the only houses that can be found at an online property auction. When the market is down, owners sometimes just want to find a way to get rid of their house as soon as possible. It can be a major financial strain to attempt to pay two mortgages at the same time. If this goes on long enough, a homeowner may decide that they should put the house up for bidding and simply take what they can get. In some cases, the bidding will drive the price much higher than they would have ever gotten by listing it in the usual manner, but normally this means they will have to accept a lower price. It gives the homeowner the chance to get out from under the mortgage and it gives buyers the chance to invest in an undervalued home.

Is an online property auction all benefits, with no drawbacks? Of course not. One drawback is that as people have begun to make their living turning around houses, they are able to bid extremely low, cutting their profit margin to the bare minimum by buying houses in volume. While this type of bidder is somewhat rare, this might not always be the case. The phenomenon has certainly been seen on eBay and other small-item auction sites, where it is nearly impossible for a seller to make a substantial profit. If you do choose to get involved in the scene, make sure you do your research on the house and purchase only what you can afford.