Chicago Real Estate Auctions

Chicago real estate auctions can really be a great source for finding condo deals in today’s market place. Real estate auctions are held regularly throughout the Chicago area.  You can usually find one at least once a month to go to.  At the auction, you’ll find several properties ranging from condos, to residential homes to vacant land.  Usually banks or developers will auction off these properties because they have not been able to sell through normal marketing.  This doesn’t mean that they are bad properties.  They were not able to get a buyer from normal marketing methods so they decided to auction the condo off.  What happens next is the best part.

At Chicago real estate auctions, you’ll have a very low starting price for a particular piece of real estate.  This is to attract a large number of people to the auction process.  If that piece of real estate is only bid on by you, you get it for that price.  There may be a 50, 60 or 70% discount on that parcel.  We were at an auction a few months back where a guy bought a condo for $45,000.  I personally sold that condo to a buyer for $120,000 back in 2003, six years ago.  The new buyer got a deal of a lifetime.  This is happening every single day in the market place.

So how do you get involved in condo real estate auctions here in Chicago?  Make sure you start with contacting a professional in the real estate business that knows everything there needs to be known about condos.  Pick their brain and let them give you information on properties that have sold in the Chicago area you want to buy.  It’s very important to analyze the condo solds.  This will educate you on property value.  You need to know how much condos are selling for in certain areas so you can understand how much to bid for them at the condo auction. 

Real Estate auctions will normally give the addresses of all the condominium properties that will be auctioned off on a certain date.  They will then allow you to preview these properties normally over a two week period before the condo auction.  It’s up to you to inspect the condominium unit and make sure it’s the property you like before the auction day.

Now the time is here, the day of the real estate auction.  Be ready and prepared and make sure you draw a line in the sand on how much you’re willing to spend.  Go into the auction with the mentality that if you do not get the condo for a certain price you’ll walk away.  With this approach, it’s hard to lose.