The Death of Live Auctions

Technology has a way of simplifying life in the most glorious ways, but doesn’t it feel like sometimes character is lost in exchange for efficiency?

From the late 90’s into the mid 2000’s, there has been a vast shift from counties holding live, in-person auctions toward online bidding auctions through the help of various technology providers such as Grant Street, RealAuction.com and Bid4assets. Not all counties are online yet, but the rate of change suggests that someday soon they very well may be.

There are many reasons that online bidding is more efficient and cost-effective for the clerks. For the bidder it has some helpful advantages as well. For example, since the auctions are online, the bidder’s ability to use the internet’s resources during the auction are extremely helpful in conducting due diligence allowing one person the ability to bid on multiple properties at once. Holding auctions online also eliminates some forms of auction fraud and collusion that may happen during live auctions. The online auctions have proven helpful in a time when county budgets are under pressure.

While there are obvious advantages to online bidding, (like the ability to bid in your pajamas), some seasoned investors can argue the downfalls. For one, the online auctions have high volumes of bidders per auction making the chances of winning a property that an investor spent weeks researching very slim. Elimination of live auctions also cuts back chances to network and meet fellow investors. To many investors that used to regularly attend these events, auctions were fun and exciting.

Sandra is one such professional Tax deed investor who runs a Tax Deed Investors club in Florida. One of the exciting things that she does with her group is go on what they call “auction field trips” where they travel around to live auctions in big tour buses. In one of her recent posts to her club’s public Facebook page, (facebook.com/QueenOfTaxDeeds), she told a story about the fun that her group had at a Broward live auction but at the end of the post she expressed her club’s disgruntlement with the switch to online bidding. She wrote, “Bad news is the Broward sale is going online in June 2015–the whole room gave a collected moan.”

The switch to online bidding does solve many problems that live auctions possess. However, at the same time it is spoiling traditions that many investors believe in such as networking with other investors, professional development and weeding out the serious investors from the not so. There are surly others out there like Sandra who are disappointed in the switch to online.