Monday, March 20, 2023
Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker/Owner 360-775-5424


iRealty Virtual Brokers


Broker/Consultant

Washington State

SUBSCRIBE
  • Home
  • Search MLS
    • Sequim MLS
    • Sequim MLS Map Search
    • Port Angeles MLS
    • Port Townsend MLS
    • San Juan Islands MLS
    • All Islands MLS
    • How to Search the Sequim MLS
  • Videos
    • Sequim Videos Q&A
    • Buyer Videos Part 1
    • Buyer Videos Part 2
    • Buyer Videos Part 3
    • Buyer Videos Part 4
    • Living in Sequim Video Channel
  • Books
    The Coming Real Estate Crash

    The Coming Real Estate Crash

    The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

    The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

    Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

    Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

    Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

    Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

    Get Healthy

    Get Healthy: Increase Natural Immunities, Cellular Energy, Deep Sleep & Decrease Blood Pressure

    Manage Your Energy

    Manage Your Energy Not Your Time

    Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

    Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

    7 Myths of Selling Your Home

    7 Myths of Selling Your Home

    Buying Your Retirement Home

    Buying Your Retirement Home

    The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

    The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

    Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

    Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

    24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

    24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

    Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

    Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

    Living Off The Grid iin Alaska

    Living Off The Grid in Alaska

    Buying and Selling Real Estate

    Buying and Selling Real Estate

    Trending Tags

      • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
      • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
      • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
      • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
      • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
      • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
      • Buying Your Retirement Home
      • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
    • Agents
      Marunde Google

      Chuck Marunde on Google

      Flat Fee Listing Broker

      Flat Fee Listing Broker

      Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde

      Buyer’s Agent Chuck Marunde

      Trending Tags

        • Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde
        • Flat Fee Listing Broker
        • Google Profile & Leave Reviews
      Tetralogy
      No Result
      View All Result
      • Login
      • Register
      • Home
      • Search MLS
        • Sequim MLS
        • Sequim MLS Map Search
        • Port Angeles MLS
        • Port Townsend MLS
        • San Juan Islands MLS
        • All Islands MLS
        • How to Search the Sequim MLS
      • Videos
        • Sequim Videos Q&A
        • Buyer Videos Part 1
        • Buyer Videos Part 2
        • Buyer Videos Part 3
        • Buyer Videos Part 4
        • Living in Sequim Video Channel
      • Books
        The Coming Real Estate Crash

        The Coming Real Estate Crash

        The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

        The Sequim Real Estate Trilogy

        Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

        Sequim Real Estate Videos for Buyers: The Ultimate Video Guide for Sequim Washington

        Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

        Escaping California to the San Juan Islands

        Get Healthy

        Get Healthy: Increase Natural Immunities, Cellular Energy, Deep Sleep & Decrease Blood Pressure

        Manage Your Energy

        Manage Your Energy Not Your Time

        Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

        Real Estate Brokerage From Bricks and Mortar to High Tech Virtuality

        7 Myths of Selling Your Home

        7 Myths of Selling Your Home

        Buying Your Retirement Home

        Buying Your Retirement Home

        The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

        The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents

        Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

        Sequim Real Estate For Buyers: Free eBook Updates Forever

        24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

        24 Secrets of Buying a Country Home

        Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

        Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide

        Living Off The Grid iin Alaska

        Living Off The Grid in Alaska

        Buying and Selling Real Estate

        Buying and Selling Real Estate

        Trending Tags

          • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
          • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
          • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
          • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
          • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
          • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
          • Buying Your Retirement Home
          • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
        • Agents
          Marunde Google

          Chuck Marunde on Google

          Flat Fee Listing Broker

          Flat Fee Listing Broker

          Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde

          Buyer’s Agent Chuck Marunde

          Trending Tags

            • Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde
            • Flat Fee Listing Broker
            • Google Profile & Leave Reviews
          No Result
          View All Result
          iRealty Virtual Brokers
          No Result
          View All Result
          Home Foreclosures

          Lawsuits Against Auction.com

          Chuck Marunde by Chuck Marunde
          October 14, 2014
          Reading Time: 3 mins read
          0 0
          7
          Lawsuits against Auction.com

          Lawsuits against auction.com are coming, and there will be class action lawsuits and individual lawsuits, and it is going to be one big legal mess. If you think auction.com is a pure auction site for real estate and foreclosures and short sales, think again. What many of us believe is fraud is now common practice at auction.com, and it has come to light that auction.com is anything but a transparent and honest auction service for real estate.

          Lawsuits Against Auction.com

          There are many legal issues that may involve consumer fraud, but perhaps the biggest fraud against ordinary consumers like you and me is a shock to investors when they first find out. Did you think that if you bid on a property on auction.com that you were bidding against other buyers or investors and that it was an open and honest auction? Oh, how wrong you would be.

          It turns out you may be bidding against yourself in one of the biggest multi-billion dollar frauds this retired real estate lawyer has ever heard of. I run a real estate brokerage and periodically work with buyer clients to purchase properties on auction.com, but we have discovered we are not the only ones who have gotten caught by auction.com’s fraudulent auctions. 

          Auction.com appears to have software programmed to run the bids up even if there are no other bidders! Not only have investors discovered this all over the country and they are complaining, but auction.com actually admits this on their website with this language. I believe this language is an admission that will spur on lawsuits against auction.com.

          Until the seller’s reserve price is met, Auction.com may counter bid on behalf of the seller. Counter bidding gives buyers and sellers more flexibility to find a mutually agreeable price. Counter bids do not occur after the seller’s reserve price is met.

          That means you will be bidding against yourself! Can you believe their bold admission? Their statement that this process of you bidding against yourself “gives buyers and sellers more flexibility to find a mutually agreeable price” is incredible nonsense. Here’s what they should have written, “Counter bidding allows auction.com to create a false bidding process whereby you bid against yourself and keep running the price up while you bid again and again against yourself.” As if that isn’t bad enough, auction.com states it will not pay a real estate agent’s regular commission, but after you win the bid (bidding against yourself), they will tack on a 5% fee that the buyer also pays (in addition to the fee they are charging the seller).

          Forget the reserve price. Auction.com does not post or reveal the reserve price on any property, and I have clients who insist that the fake bidding continues long after the reserve price was met (as they later find out what the reserve price was). This means that when you bid on a property, the software is apparently entering a higher bid to get you to bid against yourself. Of course, auction.com plays games with words, because they call it entering bids on behalf of the seller, but that is total nonsense. That would not be an auction at all. Does anyone else see a problem with a site called auction.com that is not a real auction?

          Lawsuits Against Auction.com

          You will find plenty of complaints on the Internet if you do a Google search, but I do not recommend bidding for properties on auction.com without a great deal of expert knowledge on investing in real estate and intimate knowledge about the auction.com process. Do not get caught in this consumer trap for the unwary. I believe lawsuits against auction.com are coming.

          Last Updated on October 14, 2014 by Chuck Marunde

          Tags: Auction.com
          ShareTweet
          Chuck Marunde

          Chuck Marunde

          Chuck grew up in remote Alaska, graduated from the University of Alaska with a degree in Economics and Teacher Certification, and after teaching high school for two years, went to law school at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He served four years as a Captain and JAG in the USAF at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. After practicing real estate law for 20 years in Washington, Chuck founded iRealty Virtual Brokers covering Sequim and the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. He is the author of 2,200 real estate articles and a dozen real estate books, and he produced over 100 real estate videos. Chuck combined his love for real estate and technology to create a massive Internet presence, and his articles and videos and books have been viewed by millions. Chuck is a well recognized real estate expert and his counsel is sought by other brokers and practicing attorneys around the country. Buyers from New York to Hawaii and from Florida to Alaska seek him out to retain him as their buyer's agent, and home owners around the State of Washington seek him out because of his new Flat Fee Listing Service. 

          Related Posts

          Traps for the Unwary
          Homes and Land

          Traps for the Unwary Buyer

          September 22, 2019
          30
          Legal Q&A

          Buying a Home with a Revocable Trust

          September 13, 2018
          2
          Foreclosures

          Buying a Foreclosure and How Banks Kill Deals

          September 7, 2019
          9
          Foreclosures

          Foreclosure Ripoffs

          September 7, 2019
          5
          Foreclosures

          HUD Closing Requirements

          September 8, 2019
          4
          Dangers of Buying a Fannie Mae Foreclosure Through Homepath
          Foreclosures

          Dangers of Buying a Fannie Mae Foreclosure Through Homepath

          June 12, 2014
          888
          Next Post

          Should Buyers Look for a FSBO?

          Sequim Traffic v. Los Angeles Traffic

          Comments 7

          1. don't want to leave my name says:
            7 years ago

            how can i file a class action lawsuit on auction.com

            ANSWER: You’d have to hire an attorney certified to file a class action lawsuit.

            Reply
          2. Steven D Bova says:
            6 years ago

            Are there any existing class action lawsuits that I can enter. I just got scammed by auction.com and paid over MARKET price for a fixer-upper thanks to their shill bidding

            Steven, I don’t have access to a database with lawsuits pending against Auction.com, if any, but I recommend a Google search with various phrases.

            Reply
          3. lawsuit funding says:
            6 years ago

            Very informative blog about pre settlement funding. Thank you for sharing it with us and please keep sharing it with us.

            Reply
          4. Donnie Tenney says:
            5 years ago

            Well, dummy, that is exactly how Reserve auctions work. Seller sets minimum price they will accept and until minimum is met bets increase. Nothing to sue for here. You will be kicked out of court as soon as you start and state their site rules.

            Reply
          5. Kemmy says:
            5 years ago

            I have invested in Real Estate for over 4 years and never have i ever had anyone scam me.

            In September my daughter and I decided to move from rural North Dakota and find the place of our dreams in rural Kentucky. A place not to far from Nashville would have been the perfect dream. In late September we found the house … the one catch we had to go through Auction.com in order to purchase because the house went to foreclosure.

            Nevertheless, we put up the 2500 which is what they require in order to bid. We decide to take a trip and view the property… we witnessed the lock box had been cut, the toilets were removed… the back porch looked as if someone was showing to repair them.

            The disclosure stated that the house had been winterized … upon winning the scam bid system as we were feeling at the time that Auction.com was bidding against us we honored our commitment to owning the house relying upon the disclosure statement for information about the home. We tried to look in the basement and make sure the pipes had not been removed also to see what heating system was in place… the steps to the basement had been kicked out or removed so that no one could attempt to inspect the basement. After winning the bid we paid for the house and loaded our Uhual for our new life. It was with high expectations that we hoped the disclosure information pertaining to the home would be an honest assessment.

            Once we arrived at our new home we found the back of the porch was totally demo-ed … the steps still removed… the walls graffitied… the swimming pool cover removed and replaced with a cheap plastic cover Which is now at the bottom of the pool covered with debris.

            Getting along with life I have the electric inspected and the power turned on… then comes the water… all pipes were broken, despite Auction.com noting that it had been winterized, it was clearly noted on our disclosure statement.
            Now comes plumber #1 total rip off man… within 3 days he pulled 1200 out of my pocket and did one pipe. Once I realized he was not coming back anytime soon I wrote him off as a bad experience. Plumber #2 inspects the missing steps and replaces them. Long story short it’s a HOT mess.

            After pondering the situation and 6000 in hotel bills we have been in a hotel since the week before Thanksgiving. Finally I decide to contact Auction.com so they may assist me in contacting the seller.

            The girl at Auction.com sent me pictures of the winterization and the pool cover being replaced and the back porch demo…. with a statement that the property management team contracted by Wells Fargo who is the seller found it unsafe for me to acquire the property with a rotten beam under the porch, she claimed the steps to the basement had also been replaced. We know that is a lie because the plumber couldn’t even get in the basement safely until he replaced them. This company is full of lies, I was sent an email today stating that the seller states I signed a document that I was accepting the house as is… the contradiction here is I have not even acquired a property in the condition it was in when I viewed it in late September. I sent stamp dated photos of our time at the property prior to the purchase we then received an email stating that we shou,d have done due diligence and that the customer service rep with Auction.com did not want me to bother her anymore.

            This company is a rip off place.

            I am hiring a lawyer I will also with every breath in me form a petition for a class action lawsuit.

            Reply
          6. Christel C Martens says:
            2 years ago

            Christel C Martens
            Dear sir,
            I paid for years on my home and property through wells fargo. They sold my loan to another company without my knowledge which caused my payments to go up and i had made payments to the bank in cash which were not forwarded. Wells fargo never forwarded them. I complained about that because it caused me to fall behind on my mortgage at the time of the loan being sold.

            I was in the process of receiving money which i was gonna use to pay off the house and fix it up. During that time I was told to discontinue making my monthly payments because everytime I did they had to restart the calculations for the final bill when i paid off my property. I kept waiting for them to get in contact with me but before they did auction.com evicted me. Now when you get evicted your not allowed to buy your property back. I found a lawyer and went through a different brokerage company to see what I could do. In the long-run it came back to me that yes i had been telling the truth. Specially when it came out that wells fargo was committing fraud and a bunch of lawsuits started popping up against them. But in the mean time I was still living in my suburban with my pets. I needed surgery which was planned but they did not want to do the surgery as long as I was living in the vehicle. So needless to say that did not get done. The real estate company i was using also discovered that auction.Com had people working for them that were wanted by the FBI.

            Finally my new real estate company got everything they needed and were allowed to help me get my house back. They wanted over 40.000 dollars which was the original amount i had bought the property for. I made a bit closer to the amount i would have had to pay had none of this happened. But nope they would not take it because someone was suddenly bidding against me. While the whole time the real estate company has been told the was nobody bidding against me. After a lot of hassle and treats i gave in and agreed to pay the full price again plus closing costs and all other costs.

            I’m the mean time the person working for auction.com was in and out of my house and a lot of stuff was loaded in his vehicle. I caught him the first time and the stuff was taken back into my house. Well i couldn’t sit on my street to watch from a distance because I was treatened jail time, so in the long-run they were cutting the grass late in the day, then packing up when it was dark and somehow a lot of my personal items disappeared. I discovered most of this after i was allowed back on the property. And was told the day of being allowed back in and on my property that the person working for auction.com came up the day before to get their property off my property has discovered my place had been robbed. They had turned it in to the cops because they had found a pistol on the floor in my bedroom. (That pistol had been in plain sight the whole time because I always had it on my dresser next to the bed). And they told the cops entry was made through the front door. They had busted in the little window and opened the door that way. Well appearantly the cops had taken them at their word and when they went with me to my property after i finally had everything done told me about this.
            I finally had to point out to them if someone breaks in and breaks a window all the glass should be inside the house with maybe a couple small pieces outside. Instead all the glass was outside. Like they just busted the glass themselves after panicking because I was getting my house back and in the mean time they had plundered the whole property off everything worth money. They even took my cast iron pans and skillets and stuff. And i had a lot of them. Electric heaters. Money they found i had hidden and a whole lot more. When i replaced not even all of the items that were gone it costed me over $20.000 dollars. So besides all the costs buying the place back i was up to almost $70.000 dollars already and still rising. That little joke cost me almost my whole settlement i had received for things not related to this mess.
            I was also told that the taxes and everything would be taken care off upon completion off buying my property back.
            I had been charged for it and they would take care of it.
            In the mean time I had the property back but I’m still having nightmares and panic and anxiety and have to see a therapist to help me deal with all of this. Then today i happened to scan the internet for things when i discovered there’s a lean on my place and auction.com is missing my house again because taxes have not been paid.
            I cannot deal with this anymore and I’m at a kids of what to do. I’m still catching up on things related to that wrongful eviction almost 3 years ago. And auction.com appearantly is still screwing with me.
            When I tried to find help with the first problem everytime companies and people discovered i was dealing with auction.com they suddenly were not able to help me anymore.
            Is there some way you can help me. I only write down the basic things that happened but there was much much more that happened in those three months that is still haunting me.
            Thank you so much for your time.
            Sincerely,
            Christel C. Martens

            Reply
          7. kate says:
            4 months ago

            They sold a property to me. They said it was occupied by the owner or tenant. Was told all information will be made known once we closed. Come to find out the place was illegal occupied by multiple unknown persons. The whole house was not in any leave-able condition. It was a total scam. They bid against you to get the most out of you. Didn’t mind that, but deceiving information. They need to be sued and out of business. We were mislead.

            Reply

          Leave a Reply Cancel reply

          Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

          I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

          This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

          "I wish I read this before selling my
          home. I could have saved $50,000." Andy 

          Search 2,200 Articles by Category

          • Trending
          • Comments
          • Latest
          Buyer and Seller

          What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

          August 5, 2022
          Prorate Propane

          How to Prorate Propane at Closing

          August 15, 2015
          Terminate a real estate contract

          How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

          December 31, 2020

          The Sequim Blue Hole – A Map of Rainfall

          September 1, 2019
          print newspapers

          Print Newspapers Losing Readers to the Internet

          42
          Buyer and Seller

          What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

          32
          FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

          FNMA Killing Transactions by Requiring Private Road Maintenance Agreements

          31

          What Documents Does a Buyer Need to Buy Real Estate?

          24
          Sequim Real Estate Maps and Docs

          Sequim Real Estate Maps and Documents

          February 6, 2023
          Flat Fee Listing Service

          Sellers Chase the Market Down Once Again (UPDATED)

          March 9, 2023
          Sequim real estate market

          Sequim Real Estate Market: Annual Review for 2022

          February 3, 2023
          Seattle Real Estate Market in Decline

          Seattle Real Estate Market in Dramatic Decline

          December 22, 2022

          Subscribe to Chuck 
          Marunde's Newsletter

          Popular Stories

          • Buyer and Seller

            What if a Buyer and Seller Talk to Each Other?

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • How to Prorate Propane at Closing

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • How to Terminate a Real Estate Contract

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • The Sequim Blue Hole – A Map of Rainfall

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0
          • Dangers of Buying a Fannie Mae Foreclosure Through Homepath

            0 shares
            Share 0 Tweet 0

          Leaving Comments   I hope you’ll join our community and leave comments from time to time. Please realize that comments, if approved, will be public, so do not use any personal information you don’t want broadcast to the world, and definitely don’t leave a phone number. Comments are not the place to ask Chuck Marunde for help in finding a home. To do that, call or text Chuck.

          Neither Chuck Marunde nor iRealty Virtual Brokers offers legal advice on this site. Please Read Our Legal Disclaimer

          If you’d like to view how we protect your privacy, see our Privacy Policy.

          iRealty Virtual Brokers

          iRealty Virtual Brokers reaches out to buyers around the United States with thousands of online articles, MLS sites, apps, real estate books, videos, and much more specifically to help buyers find all the answers to their questions. We also now offer a flat fee commission listing service that saves sellers tens of thousands of dollars.

          iRealty Virtual Brokers
          125 Olympic Ranch Ln
          Sequim, Washington 98382
          360-775-5424

          Search the entire NWMLS in Washington State:

          Sequim-Homes.com

          The largest independent real estate blog in the State of Washington with over 2,200 articles totally focused on our client’s best interest, their needs and their curiosity. All free and 100% reliable. I’m here if you need me, 

          © 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

          No Result
          View All Result
          • Home
          • Search MLS
            • Sequim MLS
            • Sequim MLS Map Search
            • Port Angeles MLS
            • Port Townsend MLS
            • San Juan Islands MLS
            • All Islands MLS
            • How to Search the Sequim MLS
          • Videos
            • Sequim Videos Q&A
            • Buyer Videos Part 1
            • Buyer Videos Part 2
            • Buyer Videos Part 3
            • Buyer Videos Part 4
            • Living in Sequim Video Channel
          • Books
            • Sequim Real Estate for Buyers (Free eBook Updates Forever)
            • Sequim Real Estate: A Buyer’s Guide (Paperback)
            • Escaping California to The San Juan Islands
            • Buying & Selling Real Estate in The Rain Shadow
            • Real Estate From Bricks & Mortar to High Tech Virtuality
            • The Seven Myths of Selling Your Home
            • Buying Your Retirement Home
            • The New World of Marketing for Real Estate Agents
          • Agents
            • Buyers Agent Chuck Marunde
            • Flat Fee Listing Broker
            • Google Profile & Leave Reviews
          • Login
          • Sign Up

          © 2006-2022 iRealty Virtual Brokers and Chuck Marunde

          Welcome Back!

          Login to your account below

          Forgotten Password? Sign Up

          Create New Account!

          Fill the forms bellow to register

          *By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
          All fields are required. Log In

          Retrieve your password

          Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

          Log In
          This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.