Today's Roebuck Auction Results...

[SHELLY]

Many Realtors there to note the prices, like myself, and I saw one other SoWaller who was doing some snack research for you. He said the snacks were good. I'd guess the room and hall had about 250 people, and maybe 40 people who actually bid.

And now that the prices are "noted"...then what?


A hardy salute goes out to our "Boots on the Ground."--the selfless members of the Open House and Auction Snack Observation Reconnaissance Detection Team.

OOO-RAH!!

.

 

[Smiling JOe]

And now that the prices are "noted"...then what?

Well, it certainly gives us actually sales to look at where, in many places, there haven't been sales to use for comps. Sellers keep comparing their property to other listed prices, but you know those prices mean mostly nothing. These sold prices can be a useful tool for educating sellers on current market conditions for those who choose to use it as such. The sold prices can also be a good tool for buyers looking for properties. It seems to me that for such a long time, buyers have been confused as to what the real price may be for a lot in Neighborhood X, because they see similar lots, side by side, with a price variance greater than 80% in some cases. In their minds, maybe the price of Lot A is just as wrong as the price of Lot B. This price variance seems to apply the brakes for many buyers. Now, at least with the absolute solds, we have established a starting price. Again, these sales are without contingencies so they should be slightly below, and also, there is that often forgotten 10 % buyers premium on the purchase price, along with the buyer paying closing costs (I think).

Now what? Let's start selling some property and pulling the listings of the unrealistically priced properties, and by all means, get some decent snacks in the open houses, and make sure to have proper balloon inflation and placement.

 

[SHELLY]

Well, it certainly gives us actually sales to look at where, in many places, there haven't been sales to use for comps. Sellers keep comparing their property to other listed prices, but you know those prices mean mostly nothing. These sold prices can be a useful tool for educating sellers on current market conditions for those who choose to use it as such. The sold prices can also be a good tool for buyers looking for properties. It seems to me that for such a long time, buyers have been confused as to what the real price may be for a lot in Neighborhood X, because they see similar lots, side by side, with a price variance greater than 80% in some cases. In their minds, maybe the price of Lot A is just as wrong as the price of Lot B. This price variance seems to apply the brakes for many buyers. Now, at least with the absolute solds, we have established a starting price. Again, these sales are without contingencies so they should be slightly below, and also, there is that often forgotten 10 % buyers premium on the purchase price, along with the buyer paying closing costs (I think).

Now what? Let's start selling some property and pulling the listings of the unrealistically priced properties, and by all means, get some decent snacks in the open houses, and make sure to have proper balloon inflation and placement.

Good answer.

.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Here is a tease from the auction.

Lot 2A, Winston Ln ("3 lots east from Rosemary Beach") - Gulf Front lot, with $40,000 architectural plans for a home, sold for $905,000 , of course with the banks approval. Looks like "Tiger Joint Ventures" bought it in Dec 2005 for $1,232,500. If he bought it with 10% down, interest only, which was very common then, that would leave a note of around $1,110,000. The big question is, will the bank willingly accept a loss of $200,000 (almost 20%) in order to make this sale?

 

[SHELLY]

Here is a tease from the auction.

Lot 2A, Winston Ln ("3 lots east from Rosemary Beach") - Gulf Front lot, with $40,000 architectural plans for a home, sold for $905,000 , of course with the banks approval. Looks like "Tiger Joint Ventures" bought it in Dec 2005 for $1,232,500. If he bought it with 10% down, interest only, which was very common then, that would leave a note of around $1,110,000. The big question is, will the bank willingly accept a loss of $200,000 (almost 20%) in order to make this sale?

I think the bank will take a long, hard look at the assets of those behind "Tiger Joint Ventures" before they let that one slip by.

I doubt any of these wonks showed up at the auction with bank approval for short sales.



.

 

[Smiling JOe]

The description of this lot notes the property has "$100,000+ beach re-nourishment and armament. That is really interesting since the temporary armaments(aka-seawalls) permits were supposed to be limited only to protect homes which were close to collapsing.

 

[TooFarTampa]

And now that the prices are "noted"...then what?


A hardy salute goes out to our "Boots on the Ground."--the selfless members of the Open House and Auction Snack Observation Reconnaissance Detection Team.

OOO-RAH!!

.

SHELLY a former Marine? :scratch:

 

[Smiling JOe]

SHELLY a former Marine? :scratch:

Maybe he just had a lot of KP (kitchen patrol) when he went to camp. That might explain why he is always checking out the snacks.

 

[FLSunChaser]

Snacks were poor in my opinion, offering only coffee, sprite, coke, diet coke and water for beverages, in addition to some cheeses and fruit. I was shocked because this auction began just before lunch. They should know that people don't like to make decisions on an empty stomach.

At the beginning of the auction, Mr Roebuck stated that Roebuck Auctions represents the seller, "exclusively."

The auction started out high paced, selling some things absolute for cheap! The pace slowed for a while, and then several bidders jumped in on some Pt Washington properties. Though there were many bids on those, they still managed to steal them. There were a couple of internet bids, and one which actually had the "winning" bid for lot 13 Surfer Ln (Seacrest) for $140,000 upon bank's approval. There were a couple of phone bidders, but mostly the guy on the phones just held the phone to his ear and pointed to whomever in the room was bidding. Mucho acting going on and it almost had a feeling of an evangelical gathering. They even opened the auction with prayer and mentioned passing the offering plate.

I noticed one local Realtor bidding on a lot of properties, but I think he got only one, which I think was a steal, 1340 Western Lake Dr (WaterColor), sold for $765,000 (I'm thinking I heard that price correctly, but not positive).

Bayfront homes in Freeport were stolen. I wish I had more cash than the twenty dollar bill in my pocket.

Bidder #701 bought a lot of properties.

I will be glad to post all of the prices later, but I want to note a few things that disturb me about this auction. Most of the "sold at auction" properties were not necessarily sold because the lender has to approve all of the bids prior to it being a contract. I think that so many of the sold prices were maybe low enough that the lenders may not go through with the sales. I know several of the properties were purchased prior to 2004, so his borrowed amounts may not be that high and the bank may be fine. I don't want to bother looking up his purchase prices for each property. Point is, SOLD doesn't always mean sold.

Another thing which disturbs me about this auction is that in my opinion, the auctioneers (there were two) lied about a few of the properties when they were giving out descriptions during the middle of bidding, trying to up the bids. At an auction, it is BUYER BEWARE. I wrote down what I think are the mistruths.

-Referring to the lot on Dog Hobble, when asked if the lot was on deep water, the auctioneer stated, "yes, it's deep. It's so deep, it'll go over your head." Now maybe the Intracoastal Waterway, located close by, is that deep, but not the depth of the water at that lot.

Referring to the lot on the north side of Grande Beach, the auctioneer stated, "This lot is right across the street from the beach." Actually, it has several lots between it and another road, then more lots before the beach.

Referring to a preconstruction home in Carillon Beach, one of the "team members" pointing out the bidders, stated, "This is the time to buy. Come Spring, you'll double your money." I don't know what rules Roebuck Auctions abide by, but if they had a real estate sales license, they could possibly lose their license for stating such things.

One interesting quote of the day was by a guy who walked up to the room of bidders during one of the auctions. He bid on a pre-construction house in Carillon, and lost the bid. They offered him the adjacent pre-con house for the same price. The bidder turned to a local Realtor standing beside me, who didn't know this bidder, and asked, "Is Carillon Beach a good place?"

I almost forgot to mention that while most of the properties were actually bidded upon, there were several, including some of those featured as "absolute" which were pulled -- 17 properties with reserves and 4 which were to be sold absolute. Perhaps some of these were sold prior to the auction, but it seems like the auction company would have stated this when they came to those properties if that was the case.

I was honestly shocked by some of the low prices of the winning bids. Sure, the sales are as is, without contingencies on financing, etc, but WoW!

SJ -
I've gone to several other Roebuck Auctions, and I agree with you. They lie, lie, lie! I'm glad you brought that up. A friend of mine used to own the one acre piece on JD Miller. Well, it's not an acre, it's a half acre, the county owns the other half.
I can't believe he said "come spring and you'll double your money". . .he should run like hell back to Memphis and never come back!

 

[ER]

Does anyone know if the following properties "sold" and if so what the price was?

SELLING ABSOLUTE. BAYOU FRONT - Dog Hobble - Eden Estates, Lot 10
SELLING ABSOLUTE! Little Canal Dr. - Daughettes, Lot 24
SELLING ABSOLUTE-Waterfront Lot -Nursery Road - Lot 11
Bayfront Home - 3893 Indian Trail, Destin, FL
One of a kind Wild Heron Lot on Lake Powell/Panama City Beach
Fabulous lot on Lake Powell near entrance to Wild Heron

Thank you.