Experts ... Ever Sold a House Via Auction?? (long) - Posted by Sandy FL

Real Estate Investing Auctions
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Posted by Jackie in Dallas on November 03, 1998 at 19:38:32:

Forgot to mention that I also got 4 back up buyers - these were all people that did NOT go out looking for a house to buy - just shopping garage sales!

If you don’t want to have the garage sale at the house you have for sale - perhaps you can encourage some of the neighbors to have a neighborhood sale if you do all the advertising for them, advertise 10 family garage sale and see how many potential “house buyers” show up! (Of course, you might want to hold an open house the day of the garage sale - and hand out flyers to everyone)

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Experts … Ever Sold a House Via Auction?? (long) - Posted by Sandy FL

Posted by Sandy FL on November 03, 1998 at 11:29:19:

Until recently, all HUD sales were done in my area by sealed bid. In July,
our area had our first of many HUD auctions. Investors, myself included,
attended to see if there were any bargains and possibly bid.
Well, most of us were surprised by the results-- retail prices being bid on
properties that needed major repairs— up to $10-15k worth of repairs!

Some of it my fellow investors have attributed it to “auction fever”. The
auctioneers have what I think they call “spotters” and when the bidding
gets down to 2, 3 or 4 people competing against each other, a spotter is
right there in front of each bidder, encouraging him or her to continue,
and the going price goes up up up!

So, one of the RE Club presidents here decides… “hey if these people
are paying that much for properties that need work… how much will they
pay for my rehabbed house?” and is having his own auction.
(I certainly hope he is hiring those same aggressive auctioneers which do the HUD auctions)

There is no fee for investors to list the property at the auction… there is
supposed to be extensive radio, TV and print advertising for the sale. There
is a 3% brokerage fee to pay if you accept the final bid. (it is not absolute) Bidders have to be pre-qualified, and I am assuming there is a way for bidders to inspect the properties prior to the sale.

I am pursuing the rest of the details about this, but I like the idea for one
reason so far: The auction is held Nov 21. If I do not have a serious bite
on my house by then, by all means, this could be a good chance to sell it
before years end. (I am under the impression that December is not a great
time to be trying to sell a house.) And if I do sell it myself, and withdraw it
from the auction roster, it costs me $100 to do so, big deal.

So finally, my QUESTION is…has anyone used this auction technique to sell a house,… and even if you have not, whaddya think??

Thanking All in Advance,

Sandy FL

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Sold a House Via Garage Sale… - Posted by Jackie in Dallas

Posted by Jackie in Dallas on November 03, 1998 at 14:45:12:

When I moved my parents from Fort Worth to Dallas so I could help take care of them better, I was also put in charge of having a garage sale and selling their house.

Much to my surprise - 5 HOURS after I put up the “Estate Sale” sign and “For Sale By Owner” sign, one of the garage sale attendees wrote a FULL PRICE offer on the house.

Got some stuff laying around the house - maybe the neighbors do too - take it all over to the house you have for sale and see how many people show up for this kind of OPEN HOUSE!

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How to sell your house in 5 days - Posted by Bud Branstetter

Posted by Bud Branstetter on November 03, 1998 at 12:46:57:

Sandy, You might want to read How to sell your house in 5 days. Here is Rick’s book review.

Basically what this book
says is, is to determine the absolute lowest price you could(not would) accept,
determine the highest price you think you could get, find the average of the
two, and place the ad in the local paper with a brief description of the
property and a price starting $25,000 less than the average price, “or best
reasonable offer”, saying you must sell by Sunday night, and will sell to the
highest bidder. The ad is placed on Wednesday. If by Friday you do not receive
a minimum of 25 calls, you cancel the sale, call up all that did call and
inform them the sale was canceled and why (no B.S. the book emphasizes telling
the truth), that the sale was canceled due to lack of calls/interest, and that
you are going to re-schedule the sale in the very near future. If you get at
least 25 calls, you hold an open house conducted by your closing agent (got to
find one willing to go through all the BS of this process) on Sat and Sun from
8-5 each day, where each prospective buyer can fill out an initial bid sheet.
On sun at right at 5, the open house is closed and everyone goes home. You give
a couple hours for everyone to get home and have the evening meal, then your
closing agent starts a “round robin” bidding session starting by calling the
highest initial bidder giving him/her the chance to up his/her bid, or stay.
Then the next highest bidder is called with info on the highest bid and who is
the highest bid, and given the option to bid higher (bids are increased by a
mandatory $500.00) if a bidder does not want to increase the bid, but wants to
stay in the bidding, they must at least match the highest bid, if there is a
tie, it goes to the first bidder for that price. The book recounts war stories
of the sellers putting in false bids to up the anty and they strongly advise
not to do this, because sooner or later the other bidders will catch on and you
will loose credibility and the sale, and you will be stuck with the property.
There is much more detail that makes for some very good reading, the book cost
me $13.45 plus sales tax, its called “How to Sell Your Home in 5 Days” second
edition, written by Bill Effros published by Workman Publishing-New York. I
bought it at a Target store here in my home town. The title caught my eye so I
had to buy it and see how this could be done. The book says that if you do not
get the price you want, you are not legally obligated to sell at the highest
bid since nothing is agreed to on paper until you get an acceptable highest
bid. The book even has a section for you to have prospective buyers read to
explain why you are selling your home in this manner.

The Doctor!

Rick Davis(drmoney@acronet.net)

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Re: Sold a House Via Garage Sale… - Posted by Rich Miller

Posted by Rich Miller on November 03, 1998 at 18:21:10:

I went to a garage sale one time where the owner had FSBO signs in the yard. By the time I got there, about 2 hours after it started, they had a buyer lined up. So it must work! Get rid of your junk and your house on a Saturday morning. . .sounds like a title for a book!

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Re: How to sell your house in 5 days - Posted by Redline

Posted by Redline on November 03, 1998 at 14:31:46:

This sounds interesting from a sellers point of view for sure, but if I were a buyer, I would run - not walk, out the door. I would refuse to get into this bidding war. Mandatory $500 counter offers? Please.

Just my .02 cents.
RL