Today's Roebuck Auction Results...
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Any details. I am out of town and have a few bidders at auction. I need to know if I made money today. I need a new pair of shoes. My partner needs some too.
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Unplugged, can you tell us which properties sold?
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?" She said yes, and he bought the house.
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!
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?" She said yes, and he bought the house.
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!
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Thanks for that I am looking forward to more info. I need to get out and see some of these things first hand some time.
I even scored some video of the auction of the Elm St lot in Seagrove, which the high bidder took for only $65,000, if the bank approves. Sorry, that should read IF the bank approves it. After that one had such low action, they pulled the remainder, after they tried selling five lots in that area as a package. The package brought a high bid of only $30,000 per lot. They quickly closed up shop, pulling something like twenty-one properties from the auction. All in all, I think there were some good deals here which made a few buyers very happy. Who knew you could buy bayfront homes for under $250K, each? not me. Anywho, back to my reason for posting, I have video of the almost empty room (most people had gone to lunch, but I promise the room and hallways were packed to the max, earlier) at that bid on the Seagrove lot, but my Blackberry modem is too darn slow to upload the file, so you'll have to wait for now.
You said that the place was crowded before lunch...but how many in the crowd actually put up the $10,000 and were carrying a paddle and how many were looki-lu's and camp followers?
Auctions are having a tough go of it all over. Here's a report from an auction in Sarasota on Friday:
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SARASOTA - Selling a home these days is tough. Some people try warm cookies and helium balloons
. Others give away free washers and dryers. But what if you own million-dollar properties? The kind where you don't ask about a mortgage because there is no mortgage?
Here's the answer from a luxury real estate auction held in Sarasota Friday by SKY Sotheby's International Realty: If you want to move waterfront mansions in a hurry, it's best to settle for 40 cents to 70 cents on the dollar.
"The current market has been dysfunctional," said SKY president Chad Roffers, whose company offered up 79 homes worth about $200-million in a giant lawn tent at the private Long Boat Key Club.
"Homeowners learned what fair market value is. We had 400 buyers from four countries and 18 states. The market was here."
Homeowners also learned the limits of auctions, a method gaining favor this year to provide an amphetamine rush to a slumbering market.
About 30 of the 79 properties sold on Friday. Some were auctioned, but required a minimum bid, while others were sold "absolute" - best offer takes the property.
While Roffers proclaimed the day a triumph, none of the three Pinellas and Hillsborough County properties on the block ever passed Go. One 5,200-square-foot waterfront house at 6161 51st St. in Bayway Isles in St. Petersburg, originally listed for sale at $2.4-million, couldn't rustle up a minimum $800,000 bid.
Another of the higher-end waterfront properties, listed at $11.9-million on Longboat Key's Gulf of Mexico Drive, also failed to sell.
Considering their ability to toss around tens of millions of dollars, many of the buyers were a secretive lot. Participants paid a $10,000 deposit just to win use of a blue bidder's paddle. If they won, they had to write a check for 10 percent of the purchase price on the spot.
"It's the aftermath of irrational exuberance," said one anonymous millionaire with a British accent from Southeast Asia who - no doubt enjoying the weak U.S. dollar bargain effect for foreign buyers - scooped up four properties for about half their recent value.
His son chimed in: "This is a market wake-up call. Forty to 50 cents on the dollar: I think this is the new reality."
Despite the bargains, the auction set a record for a single home sale in Sarasota. It was the $14-million sale of an estate called Sugar Bay on Casey Key. The castle-like mansion was built of imported South American coral stone and came with a guest house and 200 feet of beach. But even that was originally listed for $20-million.
Trophy homes like Sugar Bay, those with special locations and attributes, outperformed. Another such winner was a three-story Georgian mansion of 11,000 square feet in Osprey. A bidding war erupted over the house, which sold for $6-million.
The losing bidder had been eyeing the house for two years, but never pulled the trigger on a deal.
"That one I really wanted. It's just bad luck," he said, hugged his friends goodbye and tossed his bidder's paddle in the trash.
Auctioneer Daniel DeCaro, who's done 40 luxury real estate auctions so far this year, mostly in Florida's hard-pressed market, spent most of the four-hour auction trying to flog interest in the properties that didn't sell.
A house in Apollo Beach's MiraBay was one such no-sell. It was originally listed for $1.25-million but couldn't attract an acceptable opening bid.
"Five hundred!" DeCaro bellowed from the stage in the auction tent, seeking half-a-million dollars for the MiraBay. "Four hundred to get it started? Four hundred, anybody?"
By the end of the auction, interest had waned to a trickle. No-sale followed no-sale. Blue bottles of Saratoga spring water littered the floor along with glossy auction booklets.
"Looks like there's a lot of money in this auditorium," DeCaro told a dwindling crowd. "But you guys aren't spending it."
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I guess these auctions are serving a purpose--they're letting the sellers who are setting "minimum reserves" know what the market price ain't.
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There were a fair number of people seated (seats were supposed to be reserved for bidders), but for every one with a number, there were three beside him or her for moral support, or in some cases, their Realtors were there to lend some expertise. The total number of bidders didn't seem that great, though I saw many who had numbers but never raised a hand. You must remember that some people will bring the $10,000 check made out to themself, just to look like they might buy something. It's a small town. ;-)
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.
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.