but will you be comfortable to trust a reference from semi-open internet site? Even if a very experienced member did purchase from them, how do you know if their life will not changed, and suddenly they disappeared?
You have several choices
1. don't bid.
2. ask them to use the closing company you choice, (pretty sure you will get rejected) otherwise you don't buy from them
3. check if the closing company are legal in their resident state, and who is the government body that monitor theclosing company.
4. pay by paypal associated with credit card, and work on top of it, verify the contact, try to speed the process. The best idea is to have the deed in hand within 2 month, and the transfer ownership form send to Wyndham. At least you should have a signed transfer deed from them that has the original seller's name. Anytime it is wrong, call credit card company dispute the whole transaction, and let them know, and if no result, cancel the whole process.
5. Bid assume they will run away, and bid on top of that assumption, most likely, they will not. Most of the people are trying to make their statement in eBay. 2 of my 6 eBay bid seller do disappeared (in a much later day). And I have saw very experienced member get burned but this usually happen like 1 out of 30 transactions.