Sotheby's Auction

.
Got Snacks?


.

I knew Shelly would be the first to respond!

You are right on target to assume that Sotheby's will not only host an upscale auction with a great deal of added value, but that it isn't all dependant on the brand name alone. There is an integrated marketing plan that includes all vehicles of media from internet, to direct mail. There are several publications Sotheby's will advertise in specific to this auction. A short list: Wall Street journal, The Observer Group, The Robb Report, Fortune magazine, Forbes, British Airways Impressions magazine, etc.

Of the 73 homes at the most recent Sotheby's Auction in Sarasota, 55 sold. Over 100 million in sales. Also interesting, the brokerage sold a residual 25 properties a month after the auction.
The owner of Sea Sotheby?s said he is limiting the auction offerings to 50.
Please email me if you would like to learn more.

I knew Shelly would be the first to respond!

Hey, someone has got to ask the hard questions....so I can assume that's a "no."


.

Tee hee. I don't know about the catering just yet. You'll be the first I think of and contact- once I do.

Tee hee. I don't know about the catering just yet. You'll be the first I think of and contact- once I do.

We have some fine folks who post on this board who can provide catering for your event...keep them in mind--keep it local.

And post the menu for final approval--no aerosol cheese or ritz crackers......but brownies are a must!


.

I agree, and I referred a local company today as the event coordinator. Just so you know! I certainly agree.

Are you drunk with power Shelly?

Are you drunk with power Shelly?

Depending on the menu, I might just plunk down the $10,000 check admission for a paddle, dinner and a show.

Oh! Don't forget balloons, lots and lots of balloons!

(Door prizes encouraged, but not required.)


.

Hoping to keep the thread going here: there is not a $10,000 entry fee. And the orientations are free. And yes, I am pretty sure it will be catered Shelly. I kind of doubt there will be balloons though. Keep sending me messages, and I will answer you all as quick as I can.

The orientation for both Buyers and sellers will be held January 16th.
Please let me know if you are interested in coming.

Also, I mailed a postcard to homeowners in a few areas of 30-A (WaterColor, Seaside, Rosemary and WaterSound). If you received one, please let me know. I used a new program gaining and uploading the addresses. I may have had a technical problem uploading the databases, and I am worried they are all going to be returned. Ugh.

Even if you are not interested, I'd appreciate knowing you got my postcard. I can rule out the technical problem. Thank for your response thus far. I attached the direct mail.

Sea Sotheby's:

"Of the 73 homes at the most recent Sotheby's Auction in Sarasota, 55 sold. Over 100 million in sales. Also interesting, the brokerage sold a residual 25 properties a month after the auction."

I know someone who attended a recent Sotheby's auction in Sarasota and he told me nothing sold. When was the date of the auction to which you refer?

Thanks,
Little Fish

Sea Sotheby's:

"Of the 73 homes at the most recent Sotheby's Auction in Sarasota, 55 sold. Over 100 million in sales. Also interesting, the brokerage sold a residual 25 properties a month after the auction."

I know someone who attended a recent Sotheby's auction in Sarasota and he told me nothing sold. When was the date of the auction to which you refer?

Thanks,
Little Fish

Here's the write-up from Barrons:

WHEN REAL-ESTATE MARKETS sour, owners of luxury homes and condos sometimes cling to a comforting theory, at least in the slump's early stages: Their properties are pretty much immune to a downturn, just as their own lives are immune to the daily economic tribulations of those sad and pitiful Janes and Joes forced to reside in those tacky $600,000 hovels out by the Interstate.

Alas, reality and theory don't always coincide.

Consider Sarasota, Fla., a small city in which property values are king and which was one of the hottest of the hot spots in the U.S. real-estate bubble.

Hugging Southwest Florida's Gulf Coast, with a sparkling downtown facing a gorgeous bay, 35 miles of white-sand beaches, a wealth of museums, opera, ballet and theater, plus a well-heeled population of sophisticated retirees and second- and third-home owners, Sarasota thought the ride would never end. Home prices jumped 150% from 2000 through 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. Condos rose about 130% in the same span. And those figures, which also cover neighboring Bradenton and Venice, may understate the gains in Sarasota proper and its barrier islands, which boast a disproportionate share of the area's to-die-for properties.

But now prices are in something approaching a free-fall. The current readings say they're down 19% since the end of 2005 and 10% in the past year. Lots of residents who had considered selling their homes during the craziest of the craziness, but didn't, are wringing their hands.

Perhaps the market's hottest sector during the boom was luxury properties. "We were always under priced, compared to Naples and Palm Beach," says Michael Saunders, a woman considered one of the doyennes of Southwest Florida real-estate brokers. "Then, in '04 and '05, we outdid ourselves catching up."

And how! Multiple bids were the norm. I personally sold my house before I could even get a sign in the ground and am now financially set for life (provided I live in a trailer park).

But where are all those buyers now?

In an attempt to flush them out, SKY Sotheby's, a luxury real-estate firm associated with the famous art- auction house, decided to capitalize on its heritage. It tried a "starter auction" in May, with mixed results. But that just was a warm-up for the one that took place last month, when it pulled out all the stops.

More than $200 million worth of trophy homes went on the block, and the event was well-publicized nationally. SKY Sotheby's and the sellers spent $1 million on ads in media such as The Wall Street Journal and Barron's.

The whole town was praying that it would see the market finally hit bottom and begin its climb back. As one seasoned reporter of the local real-estate scene -- me -- noted on a blog for Sarasota Magazine: "Well, the auction is nearly here, and I'm getting nervous. It looks like the bottom feeders have arrived. That little army of people who used to drive around looking for something to buy, anything at any price, has now transmogrified into a little army of people who drive around looking for something to buy at well under half the price. The scary part is that they're finding things."

As a great local civic event, the auction is already the stuff of legend. It was held at the exclusive Longboat Key Club, and somehow become part of a weekend of celebrity golf and fund-raising, including a dinner with Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Pinella, TV game-show host Chuck Woolery (didn't you just love Love Connection?) and Mary Bono, the California congresswoman better known for being Sonny's widow.

Attendees entered on a red carpet and proceeded past a grouping of Porsches -- one of which was being raffled off for $1,000 a ticket -- and into a series of giant tents, the same ones used for the annual Sarasota Film Festival galas.

Things were delayed 20 minutes by the crunch at valet parking, but the standing-room-only crowd didn't mind. The place buzzed with anticipation, and there was plenty of food -- delicious paninis, fresh fruit, even Snickers bars for quick energy -- and a live band, although the selection of "There's Gonna Be a Heartache Tonight" might have been a little unwise.

The bidders got to sit in a roped-off area, where they were much scrutinized by the crowd. Who were they? David Band, perhaps the town's leading lawyer/power broker was there, clutching a briefcase and looking intense. I took this as a good sign -- until I remembered that he is renowned for getting things incredibly cheap. Investors abounded, particularly the younger, hungrier kind. There were even a couple of people who actually seemed to be looking for a house to live in.

The bidding began. Slides of the dwellings for sale were projected on giant screens, and even though I'd studied the catalog for hours, I felt a spasm of pride as each one came on. The houses were cannily chosen to reflect the many splendors of Sarasota, and included a $20 million estate on Casey Key, just down the beach from novelist Stephen King's place; a bay front Longboat Key mansion ($11,999,000 asking price); a beautiful three-story Georgian in a tony development called The Oaks ($8.9 million), and on and on. Some were on the beach, some were in new high-rises, and some were in gated communities east of town. But there was little that wasn't over a $1 million, and $3 million homes were common.

One question was paramount: Did they sell or didn't they? Of the 79 properties on the sales list, 18 were offered "absolute," meaning that the seller hadn't set a reserve price and supposedly would accept any bid. But the median sales price these attracted was less than half of the original asking price. Ouch.

Thirty-seven properties were sold "subject to owner confirmation," meaning they didn't receive bids above their reserve price -- the minimum that the seller had told the auctioneer beforehand would be acceptable -- and thus maybe sold or maybe didn't, depending on whether the seller would accept the low-ball bid.

What did go were the more unusual homes in premium locations.

The $20 million estate went for about $14 million -- a 30%-plus discount, but still a record price for a single-family home in Sarasota County.

The Longboat Key mansion, apparently not quite so special despite its home theater, billiard room, four fireplaces, four-car garage, boat dock and infinity pool, couldn't get the $5 million bid at which the auctioneer had hoped to begin the sale.

But the three-story Georgian, perhaps the most refined and distinctive property on the block this day, precipitated a bidding war.

A prosperous-looking young man who happened to be standing next to me really wanted that house. At $6 million, the bid came to him. Would he raise it? The spectators were riveted. After an agonizing moment, he made his decision. "Let Jason have it," he snarled, and turned away. Whoever Jason is, he got the $8.9 million mansion for $6.1 million, plus the 10% commission the buyer pays the auctioneer.

Very high-end condos also did OK. What didn't do well was the mundane. It was a bad day for your typical $2 million Spanish Med. The auctioneers seemed to put the good stuff first, and when the run-of-the-mill came on, well, the crowd was getting tired. The woman sitting next to me was keeping tally -- as were many others -- and after a while, her DNS (did not sell) list got longer and longer.

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the local newspaper, reported last week that only $31.9 million in confirmed deals had resulted from the big day.

So, was the auction a success?

It depends on whom you talk to.

"I am absolutely 100% satisfied with the outcome," SKY Sotheby's president, Chad Roffers, declared, although he admits he lost 10 pounds in the process. "We brought buyers out of the woodwork." His arch rival, Michael Saunders, has a different opinion. "I think the results were dismal," she told me later. "Many people were very disappointed. It was much ado about nothing."

One person who analyzed the reported sales concluded that, for the properties sold "absolute," the median sales prices was just 45% of the original asking price, and that 35 properties didn't even get an acceptable opening bid and so remained unsold at the auction.

And, of course, some competing real-estate agents, as steeped in schadenfreude as they are in mortgage rates, quickly came up with a catty saying: If you want to sell your home, call a broker; if you want to give it away, call SKY Sotheby's.

But still, something had happened, and Chad Roffers was the catalyst. The clever real-estate agent had tweaked the auction to his own purpose. It was no longer a gavel-driven, sold-to-the-highest-bidder experience, but rather, a multipart sales tool. It generated massive publicity -- front-page news locally for several days running. Anyone who bid -- no matter how low -- was considering bidding, or wished he had bid, was invited, or rather urged, to meet the seller in one of the private tents that fronted the golf course and see what they could work out. And deals were reached this way on at least several properties.

Drawing-broad conclusions about what one auction in one market says about the U.S. luxury-home market is dangerous. But the Sarasota sale certainly said something about the once-torrid Florida luxury-home market...and similar markets around the country. And what it said wasn't reassuring for those with high-priced property to sell.

Chad Roffers has another auction coming up in March. Will it work any better? No one has any idea. After all that Sarasota's realty market has been through lately, the only thing local people are betting on is that he'll probably lose another 10 pounds.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer from postcard:
* This material is based upon information which we consider reliable, but because it has been supplied by third parties, we cannot represent that it is accurate or complete, and it should not be relied upon as such. This offering is subject to errors, omissions and changes including price or withdrawal without notice. ?MMVII

Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby's International Realty? is a licensed trademark to Sotheby's International Realty Affiliates LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Opportunity . Each Office is Independently Owned and Operated.

If your property is listed with a real estate broker, please disregard. It is not our intention to solicit the offerings of other real estate brokers. We are happy to work with them and cooperate fully.

----------------------------------------

IMO you missed the boat when you failed to mention that it would be a catered affair with paninis, fruit and Snickers!.

.

I appreciate the post Shelly. I did give the exact stats released to Sea Sotheby's. And I will send this post to Sea Sotheby's Broker for some investigating. Just so you know, all real estate marketing materials are required to have disclaimers. The disclaimer for Sotheby's materials is the same on all their collateral templates. Not much more to read into that. If the Sotheby's Auction locally brings a great deal of media attention, I think it will be well received by all realtors and sellers; So many do not have marketing budgets right now. And the little they do, they are focusing on local media to placate sellers. This does not help us find buyers. With Sotheby's, a seller is piggy-backing a big brand with an international integrated marketing plan. Whether or not someone wants to participate in the auction, they have the option to simply list with Sotheby's. Sotheby's is still new to the area- I decided to hang my license after years of real estate marketing (not selling). This is my first month and I have had a 15% response after my first campaign. I am still gauging the postcard as it just went out. I did get a few calls later on today. 15% response in marketing is well-above industry standard. And thus far, from speaking to these folks, it seems it is because the Sotheby's brand. I am anxious to see what will happen March 15th. I will, of course, remain optimistic.

You go girl! Thanks for your post and hope to work with you in the future!

Shelly:

Thanks for the link. Sounds like Chad Roffers is doing whatever he can to get properties moving in the area, which is a good thing. Barron's doesn't seem to have an opinion on whether or not the auction was successful, so I guess we still haven't seen the bottom in Sarasota.

Sarasota has been hit much harder than most cities in Florida. My assumption is that when we see the bottom in Sarasota, things will start to pick up elsewhere. Right now there are incredible deals in the area, but it appears buyers are still in the "wait and see" mode.

Sea Sotheby's:

Best of luck with your auction. Hope all goes well.

Little Fish

I received the Sotheby's card! Very nice. How did you get our name, again?

Before I opened SoWal today, I prepared myself for what I thought was going to be a flurry of negative attention. I wondered if my post would be taken out of context. I appreciate the private messages and positive feedback.
Also, thank you Miss Kitty, the postcard databases were gleaned from county tax rolls.

Keep Shelly happy and you will prevail.

Before I opened SoWal today, I prepared myself for what I thought was going to be a flurry of negative attention. I wondered if my post would be taken out of context. I appreciate the private messages and positive feedback.
Also, thank you Miss Kitty, the postcard databases were gleaned from county tax rolls.

You can learn a lot from all feedback! Good luck and look forward to the orientation.

Very Wise.

Hi All. Referring back to the post by Shelly (Barron's Article): I had the pleasure of meeting Chad Roffer yesterday at our orientation for the auction (for Sotheby?s Agents only, the co-broker + seller orientation is January 16). It was the official launch of our auction coming in April (we agreed to change the date from March 15, to April 5). We discussed the November Auction in detail. The sales from the Sarasota November Auction have reached 100 million, with 20% of the sales happening prior to the auction (mostly the day before) and some being residual. The auction that produced zero sales the day before the Sotheby?s Auction was a ?competitor? who tried to come in with a weak marketing plan- charging a nominal marketing fee to the sellers. This was truly a case where you get what you pay for.
Some of the stats that I found most interesting: absolutes received 11 times more bids than reserves. Competition drives prices. Also, Sky Sotheby?s gained 50% more market share after their auction due to success and media attention. I mentioned a lot of other stats in an earlier post that were highly intriguing.
I am happy that I have many co-brokers interested in participating ? If you have a seller who you think might be a candidate, please consider coming to the orientation on January 16th. It seems the ideal product mix will not be hard to reach, as there will only be 50 offerings. It seems like an ingenious way to create urgency in a market that is otherwise over-saturated. It certainly has given me something to talk about. One of the best candidates I have had thus far was generated from the postcard mailing I posted about earlier- it landed me a waterfront seller who purchased 6 years ago. He wants to do an absolute and considers this option an easy way to unload investment property. No distress, just wanting an accerlated sell... This is the ideal scenario, not only because it is a guaranteed payday for me, but because he gets the Net Present Value and is realistic about the market. Carrying that property until it sells in the current market- is not something he is wants to do. When you look at his insurance, taxes and mortgage, it is a better idea to sell now at the Net Present Value. It also helps that he bought six years ago. Think about your sellers, maybe approach them and see if they are interested. I suggest coming to the orientation. I hope you feel you have nothing to lose and much to gain.

Hi All. Referring back to the post by Shelly (Barron's Article): I had the pleasure of meeting Chad Roffer yesterday at our orientation for the auction

Did Chad keep the 10 pound off?


.

Do you know whyizit that the Sugar Bay Estate on Casey Key, that was reported in the newspapers as "sold" for a record $14M during the Sarasota auction in November 2007, is listed on the Sky-Sotheby's website as "backup offers needed" and showing a price of $20M? http://fl.skysothebysrealty.com/sarasota/344239/

Is it a flip?

Among the notable sales of the day was the Sugar Bay Estate, at 1522 and 1538 N. Casey Key Road, which sits on 2.5 acres on north Casey Key with a private beach and access to the Intracoastal Waterway. It sold for $14 million, setting a record for a single-family home sale in Sarasota County. Sarasota County tax appraisers gave the estate a total assessed value of more than $15.2 million for 2007.

.

I'll find out. That sale was a record-breaking price for Sarasota real estate. I will check into the back-up offers and post back with what I find out.
Chad looked healthy. Younger than I thought he would be. He reminded me of my corporate days with Playground/Intrawest- must be that Canadian accent.