Property Auction Blog

Seems like realtors are trying more and more to get in on the auction fun these days. Many realtors are partnering with auction companies to get their client’s properties sold with the time-defined auction method.

Some realtors are holding on to properties for 6-12 months these days with no end in site. The question is: What is best for the client’s objectives? We know some realtors will take that exclusive listing to the grave but this practice is often not in the client’s best interest.

Rowell Auctions out of Georgia is conducting a multi-property auction sale “in cooperation” with two realtors, ERA and Prudential. Last month’s realtor magazine had a column about the subject as well, getting the message out there (from Steve Good) that auctioneers are not your competition, they are your friend.

So it seems to be that partnering with an auction company to get that listing sold is a pretty good idea. We are hearing that owners are actually contacting auction companies to have them talk to their exclusive broker about partnering on the sale. Word of advice to brokers: call an auction company before your seller does! Look for several more auction sales like this in the next few quarters.

It’s been a while- 25+ years or so since the big condo sell off craze of the 1980’s. Auctioneers are warning developers to think about the mistakes that others made at that time and don’t get caught with a building full of empty units. Those who did back then, paid dearly for it.

Marsha Wolak Auctions is putting on an auction of condo’s on the east coast of Florida in early February. A minimum of 10 units are being sold absolute. It seems like these are the last 20 units in a 250 unit complex, the developer is probably just trying to close out their position. This certainly spells out good deals for buyers as the “absolute” offering really gets the juices flowing.

Developers are listening- From Florida to Maine, from New York to California, here we go again. Advice to buyers: pick up as many as you can hold until the market turns. Advice to developers: sell as many as you can in one shot to get your cash out and move on to another project.

If you’re a celebrity or just going to jail in a heavily media covered case, you might benefit from a real estate auction. Although the seller of Michael Vick’s dogfighting compound failed to sell, the “developer” who bought the place certainly got a lot of attention for the sale. Jack Welch was successful in selling his CT property at auction. The property lagged on the market for 3 years before he turned to auction to get it sold quickly, definitely using his notoriety to attract attention to the sale.
Meanwhile, the seller of the Vick property rejected a bid of close to 300K more than what he bought for a few months earlier from Vick. Somebody needs to let him know it’s not 2005. I’m sure Vick isn’t going to be happy when he gets out of prison, having potentially left that kind of cash on the table.
We just saw another famous guy, (well, made famous by insurance fraud) put his property up for auction. It didn’t seem like a forced sale, since Robert Stokes has “set a minimum” for the auction. It’s getting a lot of media attention and that might well drive up the price.