Real estate auctions, can you trust them

Those flipping TV shows can’t be wrong, can they ? Oh my. If only customer/clients

realized they are buying a house, not a candy bar. (photos of actual house shown to client).

“If it was that easy…” right ? Here’s some of the better article excerpts I’ve found.

Property taxes, utility bills and assessments are sometimes not available at the time of auction or are not paid from the auction proceeds. These become the responsibility of the winning bidder. For example, water and sewer accounts for the property may be delinquent in the name of the previous owner and service may not be reconnected in some municipalities until the accounts are brought current.
Hubzu: One persons experience: “… I have been bidding for weeks on a distressed property and have gotten the same run around that others have posted on this forum. The photos they had listed were not current. I enlisted the help of a local agent and then drove over 500 miles to view it myself. It was in MUCH worse condition – no flooring , at least 1/3 of the drywall taken out, appliances in disrepair or gone, all interior doors and facings removed due to water heating flooding the unit while it was bank owned…”
One expert’s single word of advice for folks who dream of buying a foreclosed house at auction: “Don’t.”… “I caution anyone who isn’t in the (real estate) business: Buying (at auction) can be one of the worst decisions you’ll ever make,” says Jim Hamilton, a Realtor in Los Gatos, Calif. Another bit of counsel from Hamilton: If you want to buy foreclosures at auction, plan on making that your full-time job. If buying a house is like navigating an obstacle course, then buying a foreclosure is like crossing a minefield.