Government Auctions Reviews

Editor's Star Ratings:

Foreclosure Listings:
Searching Tools:
Features:
Ease of Use / Navigation:
Ease of Joining / Registration:
Customer Support:
Value for Money:
Overall Star Rating:

Membership Costs:

• Monthly subscription is $18.95 (approx $4.75 per week)

Features:

• Access to approximately 100,000 foreclosure and pre foreclosure listings
• Membership also entitles you to information on other auction items, eg.
  • Cars
  • Scooters
  • Boats
  • Guns
  • Jewelry

• Listings updated frequently
• Watch videos of government auctions
• Government Auctions Tutorial
• Introduction to Foreclosures article
• Customer support via phone, fax, email or post
• Fully secure website
• Free 3 day trial

Editor's Verdict:

Government auctions is a site that allows users access to the auctions of various items that have been seized or repossessed by the government (eg. cars, boats, confiscated property) amongst which foreclosed homes are one of the main attractions.

An important issue to clarify is that Governmentauctions.org is not run by or affiliated with the US Government, nor do they claim to be. They are a private company who provide detailed and up to date information about government owned property of all kinds that is scheduled to be auction off, allowing members to buy cheap stuff of all sizes and descriptions.

As far as foreclosures go, the search engine is a simple affair which keys on basic geographical variables (stage, county etc). The very best foreclosures websites offer you much more in terms of search criteria sophistication and flexibility, but this still does the job just fine. The listings themselves are adequate, but again not as extensive as those provided by some other sites. They include the obvious stuff like address, size, price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and seller contact details, but little else besides that. This is all pretty much what one would expect of a site that doesn't actually specialize in foreclosures and is more a jack of all trades.

An unusual advantage Government Auctions has over most foreclosures sites is its long reach. Government Auctions covers not just the continental United States and Hawaii, but also Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Micronesia and American Samoa. Having said that, there are very few foreclosed properties listed in these sunny and exotic places compared to the US itself, so don't get too excited.

Sadly, most of the informative extras and useful tools you often find on dedicated foreclosure sites (such as foreclosure news updates and mortgage calculators) are largely missing here. On the plus side, there is a tutorial which explains government auctions in general and a decent FAQ that introduces you to how the website as a whole works. Again, the lack of specialization in foreclosures is evident, this time in the paucity of educational resources to explain to newcomers many of the legal niceties of buying foreclosures, such as the tricky variations in foreclosure laws between different states. To be fair, the website does offer a single page article explaining the 3 main stages of the foreclosure process which outlines the various pluses and minuses of buying at each stage. As far as this article goes it explains things pretty well, but it only scratches the surface of the topic of foreclosures in general.

Whilst the free trial is only 3 days compared to the regular 7, the actual membership fee is considerably less than most foreclosure sites charge. Although this buys you the details of fewer actual foreclosures than you will find on most foreclosure websites, membership also entitles you to use the site to buy all sorts of other items at auction, including autos, boats, scooters and guns. Cancellation is fairly straightforward and there are a good range of customer support options including phone, email , post or fax.

Government Auctions is a highly affordable way to gain access to auctions of government-owned items of all kinds, often at bargain prices. If you sign up you could either end up saving yourself a lot of money or maybe just filling your house and garage up with stuff you never use which you only brought because it was cheap. On the other hand, if you're mainly interested in buying foreclosed homes, either to flip or to live in, there are other sites that are much better tailored to your needs.

Click the button below to check out GovernmentAuctions.org for yourself...