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Research > Register > Bidding > Closing
Research
Search our inventory for the homes up for sale at each auction. Simply click on the auction event from our auction calendar and a list of homes for sale will appear. In the left navigation of that web page you can further refine your search by city, county, bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage. You can view photos, virtual tours, summary data, and certain disclosure documents using our website.
Once you have identified the homes that are of interest, visit the homes on the open house dates provided and complete a thorough inspection of the home. You may bring your real estate agent and any fully licensed and bonded home inspection company.
Sales at auction are all ‘as-is and where-is’ and the sales contract provides for no contingencies. You can review documents such as (but not limited to): Purchase Contract, Preliminary Title Report, Agent Visual Inspection Report, Termite Reports (if they exist), Natural Hazard Reports (if they exist), etc. These documents can be retrieved on the individual property detail screen and they will be provided for inspection at each open house.
Register
Once you have decided you are interested in bidding, the next step is to register for each auction. Separate registration is required for each individual auction event. Registration is free, and there is no obligation to buy or bid. Click here to register. Please note bidders interested in the online auction must register an account with our partner DoveBid.com (a redirect link to register at DoveBid.com is included on CataList's onsite registration page). We require all registrations 24 hours prior to the event in order to best accommodate the attendees and make the event day registration process much more efficient and painless. There are NO event day registrations.
If you are using an agent to assist you at the auction, we offer 2% of the final purchase price (before closing costs and paid fees) to your broker. You must indicate the agent and brokerage company on your registration form or they will not be paid, no exceptions. Broker fees are not paid if the agent acts as a principle in any way.
Bidding
We have two methods to bid on properties. The first is in person at our ballroom location (and the preferred method of bidding) and the second is utilizing our international web cast. Please note that most properties have a silent reserve price and bids failing to meet that reserve may be rejected by the owner at owner’s sole discretion.
Onsite Bidding
Once you are registered, on the event day simply show up to the event during the registration hours provided and check-in at the registration booth. In order to bid, you must show a cashier’s check in the amount of $5,000 made payable to yourself (we will not collect this until you successfully purchase a home), a blank personal check, and a valid photo ID. At this time you will sign our terms and conditions of auction and receive a numbered paddle that you will hold up to indicate your interest in bidding.
When bidding on a home you will be required to pay a 5% buyer’s premium which will be added to your final bid to create the final purchase price. If you are the winning bid at $300,000, your actual purchase price will be $315,000 ($300,000 bid plus $15,000 buyer’s premium). Please take into account this buyer’s premium as you decide who much to bid on a home at auction. The buyer’s premium helps pay for the cost of holding the auction.
Our auctioneer will have assistants out in the crowd to help you and confirm the bids. If you are the successful bidder you will be escorted back to the closing area to execute the required purchase contract and sign over your cashier’s check and make a personal check payable for the difference in the required earnest money deposit of 5% for owner occupants, and 10% for investors.
Online Bidding
To accommodate those who can’t attend the auction due to location or other commitments (although we strongly encourage you to attend if possible), we offer a web cast using an audio feed to allow you to place bids with a live audio feed to the event. In order to be authorized to bid, you must register as an online bidder and provide a $2,500 credit card deposit at least 24 hours prior to the event. If you are not a successful bidder your deposit will be credited back the next business day. To listen to a sample audio web cast click here.
Closing
If you are the successful bidder you will be escorted back to the closing area to execute the required purchase contract/joint escrow instructions and sign over your cashier’s check and make a personal check payable for the difference in the required earnest money deposit of 3% for new home builder auctions, 5% for owner occupants, and 10% for investors. You will have fifteen minutes to review and sign the documentation or the property will be placed back on the auction block with no further obligation to buyer. It is strongly recommended that you review the standard contracts prior to the event.
Once the contract is executed and approved by the owner, you will be required to apply for a loan with our onsite lender if the sale is not an all-cash sale. You are free to use the lender of your choice, but there are no financing contingencies if you decide to go with your own lender. If you fail to qualify with the onsite lender, than the sale will become null and void and subject to immediate re-auction with no further obligation to buyer.
We strongly suggest you utilize the onsite lender as all contracts provide for a 30 day closing time frame which many outside lenders cannot meet. If you fail to close on time you could be subject to liquidated damages resulting in a forfeit of your deposit.
It is also suggested that you pre-qualify with our lender partner in advance of the auction to allow you to bid in confidence and streamline the closing process. If you use your own lender, please get a pre-approval letter (not a prequalification letter) to show at the closing area.
When escrow closes you will receive standard-fee title to the property with a grant deed or equivalent and receive standard title insurance from a national title company free of any financial liens other than future property taxes, bonds, etc.
Online Closing
Successful online bidders will be transferred via telephone to our online closing coordinator to take a loan application over the telephone and coordinate the over night delivery of the purchase contracts with a pre-paid return envelope and will have one business day to send back the contracts and deposit check above the $1000 credit card charge taken at registration.
You will be required to apply for a loan with our onsite lender on the telephone if the sale is not an all-cash sale. You are free to use the lender of your choice, but there are no financing contingencies if you decide to go with your own lender. If you fail to qualify with the onsite lender on the phone, than the sale will become null and void and subject to immediate re-auction with no further obligation to buyer.
We strongly suggest you utilize the onsite lender as all contracts provide for a 30 day closing time frame which many outside lenders cannot meet. If you fail to close on time you could be subject to liquidated damages resulting in a forfeit of your deposit.
It is also suggested that you pre-qualify with our lender partner in advance of the auction to allow you to bid in confidence and streamline the closing process. If you use your own lender, please get a pre-approval letter (not a prequalification letter) to show at the closing area.
When escrow closes you will receive standard-fee title to the property with a grant deed or equivalent and receive standard title insurance from a national title company free of any financial liens other than future property taxes, bonds, etc.
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