Let me attempt to save this thread. I know, easier said than done. I am just returning home from the orientation. Firstly, yes, any property chosen for the auction will participate in the international marketing campaign (did these other auctions have an international campaign, I sincerly do not know.) Properties under 5M will pay 15K marketing fee. Over 5M, a 25K fee. Yes, that is true. I am on the sales team, and I know the commission structure and the buyers fee. A selling agent will get 3% on the opening bid and then 1% on the selling price. The buying agent will get the same cut. The selling agent can opt to do just a flat 1.5. The facts are compelling. Sotheby's is really successful at creating urgency in a market that has none. And the buyers are coming from all over the world. We are talking about end-users, so not another band aid over yet another band aid.
I know I am an optimist, and that can be annoying. But instead of trying to compare oranges to apples, I hope that you see that you get what you pay for. The last auction 58 days ago in Sarasota sold 51 of the 74 properties at the auction (stat I got tonight). Add on another 11 sales since the auction, and now you have an even more stunning stat. Consider this, you can sit out, and watch what happens, or you can bring a buyer or seller, and have a payday. And yes, the marketing budget does correspond with the sellers fee, and the dollars have already been committed. A lot of these pubs and internet media had deadlines weeks ago. I got the seller packet in digital form, so if you want it, email me and I will gladly give it to you. It covers a lot of questions... and I think it is too big to post on this forum, but I will check.
I saw some sowallers tonight-thanks for coming.