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SHELLY

SoWal Insider
Jun 13, 2005
5,770
802
HighBidder said:
BTW, as noted earlier, bid prices acheived were only about half what sellers were hoping for, but most sellers would have made a siginificant profit in comparison to purchase price. Please note the number of properties currently on the market in your area, and then read my earlier posts regarding supply & demand.

This is exactly the response I expected you would get at this stage of the game. Lots of owners who are being overly optimistic in the face of reality. (Most are waiting for the big Spring buying rush. :dunno: )

What I'd like to know is what kind of buzz you heard at the bar from all the "pre-qualified" buyers you brought to the show. (Let me guess..."We'll just wait a few more months and bid 20% lower.")
 

Franny

Beach Fanatic
Mar 27, 2005
4,046
410
Pt. Washington
Yes, I was at the auction on Saturday and as far as I could tell the high bid was about 50% of today's market value. The gulf front lot received a high bid of $1.25ml, obviously not accepted. The only bids that may have been accepted were located in Seacrest Development. The high bid for each was $185,000. The realtor had to call the seller for acceptance of this bid. If you guys want all the bidding information let me know. I will say the auction was interesting and because it was my first I learned quite a bit. However, as a realtor, buyer and seller auctions do not intimidate me! I actually contacted a client regarding another auction this weekend. Good day to all.
 

SHELLY

SoWal Insider
Jun 13, 2005
5,770
802
Franny said:
Yes, I was at the auction on Saturday and as far as I could tell the high bid was about 50% of today's market value. The gulf front lot received a high bid of $1.25ml, obviously not accepted.


Next stop: e-Bay or craigslist.
 

Skerm

Beach Comber
Sep 11, 2005
21
0
64
Chicago
Franny,
Do you know which Seacrest lots were sold at $185K???

Were they the four together at Trigger Lane or the two at the Village??

Thx. :dunno:
 

Franny

Beach Fanatic
Mar 27, 2005
4,046
410
Pt. Washington
Skerm said:
Franny,
Do you know which Seacrest lots were sold at $185K???

Were they the four together at Trigger Lane or the two at the Village??

Thx. :dunno:
Hi Skerm,
They were the three adjacent lots on Trigger Trail, #8, 9, and 10. But as I mentioned before we did not learn at the auction if these bids were accepted by the seller. I will keep a close look at MLS to find out more and will share with the board.
Franny
 

Cork On the Ocean

directionally challenged
Sorry for delay. Left town Friday but had 3 people at the auction. Let me clarify that I was not there so am getting second hand and paraphrasing. They said there was about 150 people there. All 3 said it was embarassing. That the auctioneer actually stopped one and said that he wouldn't let the seller take the offered price or something like that. I was told that they explained all the rules of the auction up front but didn't mention the appraisal issue and of course said they were "as is". Was told that they did address the doc stamps, title policy issue and at one point told buyers that some or all of these costs would be paid by the seller for all of the auctions but then they took it back and said buyer pays them. :dunno: High can clarify if he wants.

Also was told that the seller has 3 days to decide if the bid will be taken so as Franny said, even if it "sells" at auction, it may not be sold. Just as everyone has reported, I was told that bids were ridiculous, when they got them (about 50%). 2 of my people were there for several hours and said only 3 out of about 18 properties had been "sold" (don't know what to call it since they probably won't take the offer) . Those 3 were the beachfront lot and seacrest lots.

Only 2 of the lots on Trigger Trail were entered into the MLS after they were subdivided (lots 5&6) and looks like the owner, (both owned by same person )paid $295 per lot in 4/04 so I can't imagine him taking the $185K offer. If I remember correctly, I was looking at those lots before they were released and the agent told me that they were going to be much higher than $295 so I wouldn't be surprised if all 4 lots are owned by the same person. The county records still doesn't have a card on them. Wasn't somebody just saying how up to date the county records are? These are 2 year old sales!

In speaking to one of my clients, he indicated that he was under the impression that the seller does pay something for the attempted auction in addition to the buyer's 10% fee. Can anybody tell us if this is true? High? Baby Blue? Am truly interested.

I would assume that someone had significant expenses putting the auction on so it would make sense that the seller would have to pay expenses of some sorts.

When I asked one of my people to give me an honest answer regarding whether he would buy at an auction like that after having seen it - he said no, prices were about the same as listed.

When I asked if he would sell one through an auction, he also said no, it was a waste of time and would just tick him off.

So it doesn't sound like it was very successful at all but the good news is people showed up and are still interested in the area, they just want to get in for less than our values are right now. Any developers out there? Affordable family housing! They keep building them nicer and nicer with hugh sq footage, elevators etc. I certainly dont mind but it's looking like the VERY wealthy will be the ones buying South Walton in the future. Does that make those of us who own very wealthy? :D
 

Cork On the Ocean

directionally challenged
HighBidder said:
Hi Rita,

BTW, as noted earlier, bid prices acheived were only about half what sellers were hoping for, but most sellers would have made a siginificant profit .

Take care.

So if bids were half of market price (by all reports) and that was half of what sellers were hoping for, it sounds like sellers were hoping to get market price.

Would like to know if there was any of the properties where the seller was willing to take 70-75% of market price? My thoughts are that since the property could sell as low as 90% on the open market, when you subtract the additional 13% the buyer is paying , plus risks outlined below, I would want to see these properties going at least 75% of market or lower to motivate me to buy one. I wonder if any were priced that low. :dunno: Anybody?
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
HighBidder said:
Jellyfish-
Lower Price? Not necesarily. There are a number of reasons why a seller would utilize the auction method of marketing. The most significant is the ability to sell their property at a pre-determined time, and at fair market value. With qualified buyers in attendance, the property will acheive fair market value. No more. No less. In many cases, highly desirable property will sell for more than the initial asking price.

I questioned this first statement in bold text, and since we are not hearing about all of the sales, my suspitions appear to hold true.

Regarding qualified buyers, I define a qualified buyer as someone who is not only able to purchase, but someone who is also willing to purchase. It sounds like the "buyers" who showed up were hoping for prices of desperation, not the going list price or a small reduction, thereby making them un-qualified in my terms, aka tire kickers or sight-seeers.

As for the last sentence, I guess there were not many cases at the last auction. :dunno:

In summary, how can we do nothing more than speculate? I have not and probably will not in the future, based on history, see the auctions in the ECAR's listings.
 

30A Skunkape

Skunky
Jan 18, 2006
10,286
2,312
53
Backatown Seagrove
I guess I am terribly naive but it seems to me that if you put your property up for auction, you suck it up and sell for what your property goes for at gavel. Otherwise, you stick the little 'for sale' sign in the sand, pay your taxes and wait for a bite. :razz:
 
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