3 minutes 40 seconds · Original audio · On-screen word captions
I won the auction for a Rockledge townhome in Palmyra—but the important part happened before the final bid. In this video, I walk through how I set my limit, factored in renovation costs and auction fees, and kept the bidding from turning into an emotional decision.
Recorded October 20, 2026, after winning the auction and before closing and renovations.
Set the numbers before you bid
My bidding limit started with the home’s estimated renovated value, then accounted for the work I planned and the costs of this particular auction. The goal was to stay within that limit even as the countdown made things exciting.
Explore our real estate investing resources and learn more about Rockledge in Palmyra.
Video transcript
Lightly edited for punctuation and readability.
Hey, everyone. So my evening took an interesting turn tonight. For the second time, I decided to make a play and bid on an auction house.
The first one was in a Hummelstown neighborhood, a townhome neighborhood, and the bids got out of control. It was a live auction in person and just went way too high. I was in it towards the end and then bailed out because I didn't want to overpay.
This home here in Rockledge, which is a neighborhood where I already own investment properties and I'm very familiar with, is just about a mile and a half from my house. Ironically, I had a listing appointment for this very home two or three months ago, and the seller's family decided to sell the home by way of auction because they wanted to not have to worry about it and sell it with all the personal items and everything included. Because I had a listing appointment, I got to meet the seller and learn some unique perspective on the house, which was valuable to me.
Today was the final day for the auction, and when I logged in, the bid was at $160,000, but it said “reserve not met,” which means that the seller doesn't have to sell it because it's not at the price they want to get for the home yet. Then as time went by, about an hour before the auction ended, it went to $180,000, and it changed to say “reserve met.” That means that there's going to be a sale.
I started watching it, and around the four-minute-remaining mark, I made a bid, and I was quickly outbid. Then as time went down, I think it was about 30 or 40 seconds left, I made a bid, put in my max bid that I was willing to go up to, and then time ticked down—10 seconds on—and eventually it flashed up saying, “You won.”
So I got the home for $2,900, I believe, under my max bid. And I can tell you, it is nerve-racking, and it does get risky because you are tempted just to enter a higher number, right? But there are real consequences of doing that. Sometimes you want to be competitive. You don't want to lose out on something, and just by putting a slightly higher number in, you think you'll get the edge. But then if you're outbid, when does it end?
The way I determined my personal high number was I took what I believed to be the true market value of the home in its renovated condition. In this case, the last 10 Nantucket units have sold for about $234,000 on average. I took that price, and I subtracted all the things I would want to do to it to get it ready to put it back on the market as a rental. Then I subtracted the fees to buy it, because at this auction you have to pay a 10% buyer premium as well as 2% transfer taxes. I figured out what my number was to make it worthwhile.
And like I said, thankfully, while it got close, it was $2,900 below that number. So now I have that room left to deal with the things that need done. Obviously, I have to come in probably about three or four weeks from now, buy it, and I have to make a deposit tomorrow. This was all online, not in person at all. I did preview the home last night to make sure nothing had changed.
I'm going to come in, sell or get rid of the personal property that was left behind. I'm going to scrub it down, have the vents cleaned—it does smell like smoke some—and then we're going to replace the carpet, repaint the whole place, probably replace the windows because they're storm windows. I can do all that, do it the way that I like with my style and my contractors, and still have an investment that is slightly under market value.
So that's how you win at an auction today. If you have any questions on auctions or buying rental properties in the greater Hershey area, look me up. Thank you.
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