LIVE v ONLINE AUCTIONS – a commentary

By now you probably understand my willingness to participate at live auctions. And you most likely understand and agree with my disdain for auctions held online. There’s absolutely no comparison. Those of us that grew up on live auctions have had to find other and hopefully better (I know I have) ways to turn a buck with delinquent tax auctions.

Back in the day of live auctions, sure you could only work in the counties surrounding your home, but you could make some money. I’m talking 30K profit each deal, time-after –time-after-time. Until the stock market crashed in October 2002 we were pulling in all the deals we could handle…..and then some.

During the crash of 2002 every knuckle-headed-stock-market-investor showed up at the county auctions (both tax deed and foreclosure auctions) and started throwing their money at real estate. They were bidding the properties up to the point that the “old timers” like me (I was 41 when I reached old-timer-hood) could no longer make their living solely at the sale.

Now, with online sales, every bone head, in every county, from every state is a wanna-be Florida real estate investor. Most have no clue of what they’re in for and the others have more money than brains……

In any event, the amount of competition today’s online auction investors are facing for every property, there is no way they could eek out a living just at the sale. They’ll need more creativity, more guile…..and I’ve got enough for all of us. Thank you for allowing me to rant (like you really have a choice)? But I assure you, some of the tricks I have to make money at the sale will set you up nice. And the best part is, more likely than not, your competition will never even see you coming!

The moral of this story is, find a county that still offers tax deeds at a live sale and you’ll have a fighting chance to prevail the way we did when auctions lasted 4 hours….straight! It might be fun to again walk in the shoes of us old-timers…