LOS ANGELES AP – Home auction Web sites offer a tantalizing alternative to homebuyers: Find a property, put in your bid, and the best offer wins.

Sounds simple, but the difference between landing a bargain and overpaying for a property isn’t quite that cut and dry. Often it comes down to how well a buyer vets a property before the auction and how they manage their bidding in the final hours of the sale. And some auction Web sites have features that make this easier to do.