If you have looked for bargains online, you’ve almost certainly read seemingly wild claims of $100 cars and $10,000 houses sold through government auctions.

A cursory search will most likely lead you to sites wanting to sell you a book, guide, or membership site.

While it is easy to dismiss these claims as marketing or hype, in fact cars and houses are sold for similar amounts every day. And yes, they are sold through government auctions.

In fact, the range of goods and property auctioned by federal, state, and local government agencies is staggering, and the prices can be equally eye-opening.

But therein lies the problem: auctions are held by individual agencies at various levels of government. In fact, there are literally hundreds of different agencies and departments holding auctions independently.

Can you really buy a car or truck for $100? Yes, providing you have the patience and fortitude to wade through auction listing after auction listing, day after day.

For instance, cheap used cars are auctioned by the IRS as tax sales, the Department of Transportation as surplus, state and local police departments as seized property, and a hundred other agencies as fleet liquidation.

The government itself does not put these listings together, or even provide a list of agencies or departments holding auctions! And so a directory or government auction membership site actually is the only practical way to find those $100 cars besides perserverance and dumb luck.

As with many things online, however, let the buyer beware! No printed directory can provide current listings, they change too frequently. And not all membership sites maintain current or complete listings of all the various auctions.

And so, while a government auction membership site is probably the only practical way to find those once-in-a-lifetime deals, look before you buy: do some searching online and find reviews of available membership sites, such as those at Government Auction Site Reviews.

Do a little homework, and you just may pick up that pickup you want for $100!

By: Michael Ullman

About the Author:
Mr. Ullman blogs about Government Auctions, Police Auctions, and Real Estate Foreclosures at Government Auction Sites