What have I done! I won an auction

I was riding my bike through town Monday and came across one of those auction signs posted on a foreclosed home. I have been thinking about finding out more about how these auction stuff works and this auction was the next day and 1 mile from home.

I thought, "I won't bid anything big, just a low ball amount to "play" and watch the professionals duke it out".

So I go, there are 4 homes being sold that day. Of course, the one I saw was being auction first. Great, I wanted to see how it was done so I didn't look foolish or scratch my nose and pay 3x the price my mistake.

I checked out the property at 6am the day of the auction.
It was dirty, and needs minor repairs, but nothing major wrong with it.
It is a 2bd/1ba condo, so not a lot to look at.

I go to the auction site, which was in a different location, 1 of the 4 and the nicest properties on the auction block.
About 60 people showed up.

This turned out to be a REO auction, not a foreclose court auction. So the band already owed the property and is trying shed it by using an auction. This is good because the title is clear and all the emotional parts of the process is removed.

I was amazed, they only required a valid drivers license and a personal check to pay 5% down on winning the bid.

Finally the bidding starts. Of course, the opening started at 10k and went to 150k in two secs. This property is in CA and in the bay area.

I raised my hand and bid 160k! What a rush. It lasted for about 2 seconds, some one up bid me and I was out. I didn't want to get carried away, so I put my hand in my pocket. The bid ended at 167k. I was kind of relieved, since I didn't REALLY want to buy one.

Ok, time to go home, I thought.
Buy wait, the person who just won somehow backs out! This is crazy and unheard of. Every one is upset and the auctioneer is very miffed. Somehow, since so we late and didn't sign in, she wasn't obligated and shouldn't been bidding in the first place.

So they had to start it over again!
This time, only a few people played the game. I bid 100k, some one bid 125k, then I bid 150k and, and, and, no one else bid. All the previous players were gun shy and still mad at the lady from before. So I got it at 150k!

That is a great deal and cheaper then my first bid by 10k. Talk about lucky.

Now I have to wait for the REO agent to accept the offer (different then a court auction), but I think they will take it.

Now time to figure out how to pay of this thing. I didn't know I was even looking for a rental property 48 hours earlier.