Government Property Auctions

Over the years entrepreneurs have literally made billions of dollars by sourcing and purchasing undervalued properties through government property auctions. We’ve all heard the stories about how an average Joe started attending property auctions, buying properties at a fraction of their value and selling it on the open market for a tidy profit. The simple fact of the matter is that with a reasonably small amount of effort anyone can do this. It’s just a question understanding the market and knowing where to look.

Beginners get despondent pretty quickly when it comes to tracking good government property auctions and it can sometimes feel like it’s easier to find a needle in a haystack. Here we’ll try and make a little sense out of it all.  

Click here for government property auction listings

The government consist out of a myriad of different agencies, departments and divisions. These agencies all have different jurisdictions and from time to time these overlap to a certain extent.  

Government Owned Property 

Looking at this first, governments own proprietary property. Put another way, this is real estate which the government bought in the past, owned and used. This can be for a variety of reason such as to provide housing to federal, state or county employees, foreign dignitaries, office buildings for government operations, etc. The advantage of buying any of these properties at auctions is simple: 9.9 times out of 10 it won’t have any outstanding taxes or any other liens on them. The title will therefore be squeaky clean. So where’s the best place to look for these? 

Most of these auctions aren’t auctions in the traditional sense of the word. The best federal departments to look for such property auctions are the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA).  

Department of Housing and Urban Development 

Before properties at HUD are offered to investors, they are first made available to first time buyers that want to purchase their primary residence. If, subsequent to this, there is no interest, the property will be put for auction to other folks. Your ‘bid’ needs to be submitted normally online via a registered property broker. Bids are accepted for a certain offer period, upon which the highest, most acceptable bid is chosen. If you’re bid was successful you will be informed by way of your broker.  

Department of Veteran Affairs 

VA also offers a similar procedure with Government property auctions. The only significant difference is their preference to sell property to veteran defence personnel. Properties will only be offered to non-veterans after VA have attempted sell the real estate to veterans.  

Furthermore, government auctions aren’t just limited to residential property. The government as a whole occupies vast amounts of commercial buildings, post offices, warehouses, etc. across the country. These properties, including certain residential properties, constitute the balance of other government property auctions. The Federal Asset Sales Real Property Program was formed to provide more affective access for the public to purchase government property such as mentioned above. These auctions are announced widely on a number of different publishing platforms where citizens are invited to participate in the auction. The auction type depends entirely on the property in question. 

Sometimes the auction may have a reserve price for the property. In any case, the government will use the appraised market value as a reference point to the value of the property. This is a mix between the market value (the price the property will fetch in the open market) and appraised value (the value determined by a professional). 

State Department 

Finally the State department also hold auctions for their many properties which they own in countries across the world. These auctions may also be open to citizens in these respective countries, although US citizens are also welcome to participate.     

This was Part 1 on government property auctions. To read Part 2, please go to government real estate auctions.  

Looking for government property?      If this is you, I strongly recommend you to look at GovernmentAuctions.    GovernmentAuctions is a membership service that has a large database of up-to-date property auctions among many things. Search for cheap properties and find great value. Click here to check it out now!