How To Resell Your Tax Deed With Online Auctions

By: Carlos Scarpero

So, you bought a property in another state through either a tax sale or just good old fashioned detective work. Now, how the heck do you sell it? Why not try internet auctions? It works wonders for me and can work for you too. While there are many auction sites, I prefer eBay and Bid4Assets for my real estate selling.

You may think that selling real estate over the internet sounds like an awkward idea. However, the exposure the real estate receives over such a widespread media like the internet is an investor's dream. When selling tax defaulted properties, and especially in areas where there are a lot of vacation properties, it can make the difference between losing money and making a huge profit.

One of the best things about selling real estate on auction is that it "markets" to many areas around the world, not just a local area. Advertising on auction makes the property available to more than 100 million potential buyers, including those from other countries. Visitors can browse through the property details 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without the investor having to explain the details about the property to every single prospect wanting information.

So, now that you know that you can sell real estate on internet auction, how do you actually do it? Here are some basics of what options are available on eBay and Bid4Assets.

On eBay you can either sell on Auction, Fixed Price or on Classified Ad format.

For each of these selling formats, the investor furnishes additional information regarding his or her property. Details may include lot size, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, type of property, year built, and other information. The auction listing period must also be specified, where the choices range from 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, or 30-days, or a 30- or 90-day non-auction listing.

For tax defaulted properties, you will most likely be selling vacant land on auction. For vacant land, eBay charges a flat rate listing fee of $35 and a Final Value Fee of another $35. There are also upgrades that you can get such as bold, highlight, and featured. I recommend that you take advantage of these upgrades because land is a very competitive category.

On Bid4Assets, the procedure varies slightly. Bid4Assets charges a flat rate fee of $5 to list a property and 10% of the Final Value. Because there is less up front risk, I personally prefer this procedure and use Bid4Aseets for most of my selling activities. Bid4Assets will also delete accounts of non paying bidders, which of course is a seller's dream come true.

Selling real estate on auction is growing in popularity as the internet stretches it's outreach to more countries. Although nothing beats direct and personal inspection of property, the convenience of having an auction connect seller and potential buyer is definitely appreciated.

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