Hi Ratnam: you have been given some great advice, some not so great.
You also asked for numbers on costs...First, you can get an appraisal without access to the home, but if the appraiser does not get inside, you have an appraisal valuation that will not address the interior conditions. The appraisal will only address the outside of you home compared to other sales of similar size, and the appraiser will ASSUME the interior is complete, and the mechanicals all work, a dangerous assumption in this type of property. This is called a drive-by appraisal, and typically runs $150-300. Secondly, yes, you can order title work without access and before your auction. Typicaly, that charge runs $175-400. with a good title company.
Obviously, if the home has been stripped down inside, you run a risk of having serious costs replacing HVAC, kitchen appliances, bathroom fixtures, whatever might have been removed from the property. Many times, before auctions, homes are offered for inspection, and you may be able to see what works inside before you actually bid. Armed with your own inspection, and a drive-by appraisal, you may be able to bid with some confidence. However, you may run into the fact no utilities are on when you inspect, so judging operating conditions of appliances and/or HVAC may be a problem. Your mortgage specialist should have already given you this information. Hope this information helps you! Jim

I really appreciate all of your input. This is very different market situation than I am used to. We never had older home in the past so it is very difficult for us to live in an older home. To find an almost new home(4 years or older) in city of Fairfax in a price range that we can afford is very difficult. Also we have three people in the family to select a home. One of us use our veto power to overpower others. It does not mean that we never show interest in buying a home. Four or five instances we were about to put an offer in a house, but we were told that they accepted another offer. All those homes are REO(Bank owned) homes. We will wait for the next REO sale.
Thanks.
Ratnam

Hi Ratnam,

There are some good deals to be had at auctions held at the county courthouse, but as Remesh alluded to in an earlier response, the fraction is not going to be 70% around here, unless the house is in awful condition, and requires a lot of money and work to put it into good condition.

Here are a few additional comments for you to consider:
1. Banks selling foreclosed properties at auction always have a minimum bid requirement, and if that bid is not met, they don't sell the house.
2. Unless the house is occupied (and most of the time it is not) you will have no chance of getting into the house ahead of time. That means no appraisal. I know you're looking to finance the bulk of your purchase, but no bank will loan you money without an appraisal.
3. You need to have all your financing lined up in advance of the auction which makes acquiring more expensive properties at auction very difficult.
4. There are no contingencies allowed when you buy a house at auction. No home inspection, no appraisal, and no financing contingency either.

You can get a title search done in advance, that part is not hard, but I don't think they sell title insurance at these auction sales, so if a mistake was made during the title search, or if a lien is placed on the home after you purchase it, that will be your responsibility.

Ratnam, I know you're looking for a deal, but finding the home you described to me recently at an auction sale, will be like finding a needle in the haystack. If you're requirements regarding age and location have changed, let me know. I know of a beautiful home that might fit your requirements, but it's slightly older then your original desired age of a home.

Regards,
Andy Krumholz, ABR, GRI, CDPE
Keller Williams Realty
(703) 599-4755 - cell
ajkrumholz@yahoo.com

Welcome to investment world.
First, you would need to contact your local Realtor or loan officer to find out the value of the house by pulling several comparable from previous sales near the subject property.
Second, if property is vacant your appraiser CAN NOT go inside to do the appraisal and that is one of the biggest issue to get financing for an auction home. If subject property happen to be short sale or occupy you may ask occupant to enter to preview interior.
Third, you should contact local title company to do clean title search on the subject property with a fee.
If there's property is occupy after the auction it is necessary to hire experienced Realtor to negotiate to have property vacant. Therefore you would need to have a good team to do successful auction transaction.
Please visit http://www.home1on1.com to contact me with any assistance.

u can't get in on the day b4.
Closings are not unreasonable.
What is a fraction?
Please talk to a good buyer agent.
rgds,
Ramesh Chandra
703 635 8209
mepcigroup@gmail.com