Bearish I don’t think that your suspicions are correct. You have to look at the numbers. Suppose 300 properties are going to auction tomorrow. Now at least 250 of them are going to get postponed. Now 150 of them you know have already been postponed and another 100 will be but you are not sure which 100 they will be. So you can research 200 properties, comp them all out and know that the majority of your research will be moot, OR you wait until the day of the auction and let the postponements occur and SIGINIFICANTLY reduce the amount of work.

So what happens is that with the larger more well run operations, they will have a runner at the auction, one or two other guys out in the field, then someone at the office. The guy at the office will coordinate, he will talk to the runner at the auction and he will also get the condition of properties from the guys in the field. As properties get postponed his “active” list shrinks to a more manageable number so that he can comp 20-30 properties rather then 150 to see what they will fetch on the market and thus he can then instruct his runner how high to go on the bidding.

This is by far the norm as compared to contractors who are looking to buy a beater to fix and flip.

In fact I stopped going awhile ago as I am on the computer instructing our runner when she is at the auction rather then going. It is much easier and I can be much more productive comping the properties that day rather then comping a hundred properties the night before. You see what I am saying?