When Moe Batra saw the auction listing for a parcel of land near the Skagit River, he thought it would be the perfect place to build his retirement home.

So Batra, 58, joined about 2,000 other people at a land auction in Lynnwood last month put on by Auction Acres of Portland. And he won the basketball-court-sized parcel for $15,000.

What Batra didn't know — but what the company says he should have — was that the property is in the notorious flood zone of Hamilton, Skagit County. Only two years ago, it was swallowed up by the river that had so attracted Batra in the first place. Town officials won't allow Batra to build there or even connect utilities.

"What they're selling is trash property, that's the word I'd use: trash," Batra said.

Batra is one of several people who bought land at the Auction Acres event last month who are now objecting, saying the auction company should have told them more about the properties.

The buyers include a Pierce County retiree who put $6,000 down on desert land in Nevada with no access road; a Lynnwood couple who say they were shown one property but sold another, and an Edmonds man who bought scrub land in Central Washington for nearly 10 times what the auction company paid for it.

Now many of them are trying to get out of their purchases, though for some it may mean paying thousands of dollars to the auction company, which then gets to keep the land to sell another day.

The auction company says it is trying to be flexible in some cases, but its president emphasizes it was made extremely clear that it was up to the buyers to research the properties before bidding on them.

Even so, the suggestion that important information was not disclosed has the state Attorney General's Office recommending that unhappy buyers file consumer-protection complaints.

And a local real-estate attorney warns that the Auction Acres sales contracts allow it to hold title to the land — and even potentially borrow on it — until the buyer pays it off completely.

In all, about 220 parcels of vacant land — totaling nearly 2,000 acres in 12 states — were sold July 17. Auction Acres, which buys vacant land and sells it at large auctions, often sight unseen, estimated the total sales at $1.5 million.

Stephen Seal, president of Auction Acres, acknowledges the company doesn't do much research on the properties and usually doesn't know whether there are problems.

But information is posted on the company's Web site weeks before the auction, including maps, satellite images, parcel numbers and brief descriptions. The company repeatedly instructed potential buyers to inspect and research land.

"The terms and conditions are pretty clear: The buyers are expected to go and inspect the property before they buy it," Seal said. "The deciding factor to me is: Is this something they could have known about before they bought the property?"

Desert, no access

Eric Lopez, a retired paper-mill worker from Roy, Pierce County, agreed to buy 640 acres of desert land in Nevada for $75,000, and paid $6,250 for a down payment and fees. Then he found out the county where the land is located has assessed all 640 acres for $11,450.

When he went to see the land, he discovered it is about a mile from the nearest road, and there is no easement across adjoining land for access. Buying those easements would cost three times more than he agreed to pay for the land, Lopez estimates.

"I should have, myself, researched it a hell of a lot better," said Lopez, 62. "It was my mistake and I'm really happy that's all I lost."

Syvia Hang and Koon-Yui Poon of Lynnwood paid $78,000 for a quarter-acre lot in Brier and had hoped to build a home.

Then, they said, they discovered the quarter-acre they bought was not the parcel that the auctioneers had displayed on a projector during the bidding. The auction company doesn't even own the piece it was showing, Hang said. The assessed value of the land they ended up with is $8,000.

Hang admits she didn't do much research on the property. But she contends the auction company was in error. The couple has stopped payments on their checks, and has tried to get the charges on their credit cards rescinded.

Hang and Poon said Auction Acres officials initially told them that they have to pay a $250 document fee to get out of the deal.

When asked about the couple's concerns this week, Seal said he hadn't heard about the situation, but agreed that if the company advertised the wrong parcel, the couple shouldn't have to pay the fee.

Lo-Yu Sun of Edmonds still hasn't visited the 80 acres near Sunnyside, Klickitat County, he agreed to buy. He won the property with an $87,000 bid and put down $23,000 using a credit card.

But now he's distraught. The annual taxes on the parcel are only $25, leading him to suspect he paid way too much. The auction company had purchased the land for $9,100.

Sun said the company should allow buyers to see the land after they win the bidding but before they ink a deal. "You should be able to say, yes, I want the land, or no, I don't," he said.

Hal Brittain, 49, of Snohomish said he knows he paid too much for a lot near Othello, Adams County, and another in Arkansas. But he blames himself for not doing more research.

Though it's in a growing area, the Arkansas property likely won't be developed for many years, he said. And the Othello property has no access road.

"I think in retrospect I won't go to any more land auctions," he said. "I don't want to go so far as to say we got ripped off ... but there are probably better ways to buy land."

No recourse for buyers

Some real-estate experts said the buyers likely don't have any place to turn.

"If people feel they were cheated, it's because they let their emotions get above their reason," said Frank Schnidman, an attorney and senior fellow at Florida Atlantic University. If someone buys vacant land sight-unseen, it's like "buying a used car without taking a test drive," he said.

And Ralph Maimon, a Bellevue real-estate lawyer, said the land-sale contracts that Auction Acres used to set up payment plans for buyers could prove "tragic for a lot of people."

Unlike a traditional real-estate sale, where the buyer gets the title while paying off the loan, the Auction Acres contracts give buyers use of the land but the seller keeps the title until the full sales price is paid off, Maimon said.

So the contract allows the company to keep the land — and all the previous payments — if a buyer defaults, no matter how much they've paid. The auction company can also borrow against the land, Maimon said.

Seal said his company won't borrow against the properties it sells, even though it retains that right. And he promised that Auction Acres would be flexible about payments.

"If people default and get behind, we're not eager to get the property back," Seal said. "We do business ethically, and we don't have any issues with those clauses in the agreement."

But state Attorney General Rob McKenna's office said that if material facts that would affect the use or value weren't disclosed, it could be actionable under state consumer-protection laws.

"I would encourage people to contact us if they have problems, definitely," said Sean Beary, a resource manager for McKenna.

As for Batra, he said Auction Acres has told him he can pay $1,500 to get out of his agreement to buy the flood land in Skagit County.

That seems high to Batra, who has offered to pay $500 to settle the deal.

"I wish I could convince Stephen Seal to do the right thing," Batra said.

Brian Alexander: 206-464-2349 or balexander@seattletimes.com