As clear as day, the McAllen-Mission-Edinburg real estate market has felt a shift thanks in part to the ever growing Online Auction Sites, such as Auction.com. Though live auctions are still common the shift is clearly moving toward online auctions for all the obvious reasons including lower costs and technology. Regardless of which type of auction you decide to partake in, the following are three strategies you need to implement. Doing so will allow you to take advantage of the rising Real Estate Market in the McAllen-Mission-Edinburg area.
1) Unless you are a seasoned investor with both real estate experience and remodeling experience partner up with a true and experienced real estate professional. Find a Realtor who has vast experience in both online and live auctions. Ideally look for a Realtor who has invested their own money in buying and selling real estate and is an investor like you. This experience is important because the agent understands how important it is to buy at the lowest price and either lease or sell for the highest price.
2) Research, research, research. Make sure you do your homework on all the properties you want to target and make 100% sure you visit all the properties you may be targeting. Not physically going to look at the property is a recipe for disaster. Make sure you see both the interior and exterior of the property. Doing a drive by is not enough.
3) Always have as much money available as possible. I compare this to the old saying of “It’s better to be over dressed than under dressed”. The truth is auctions are popular for a reason, the main reason being you can really get an incredible deal 20%, 30% sometimes 50% less than market value.
Don’t set a limit, always set a range. For example, you want to buy a $200,000 home in McAllen but don’t want to pay more than $150,000 and all you bring to the auction is $150,000. This would be a mistake and here’s why. The house could go for $151,000 and no one bid on it!!!!!! Another example of where limiting yourself hurts is when an excellent piece of property comes up that you never thought you could afford and it sells for only a few thousand dollars more than what your cap was. So always take more money than what you want to spend and if you don’t need it that is icing on the cake.