Comments on: Auctions & Bankruptcy & Bring All Offers in Great Falls Virginia

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:50:07 +0000

Very interesting article and good comments. FRANKLY, this is the best blog I have ever seen – Good on you! I have been selling houses since I was 19 (now 42- bugger!). I am an honest person and don’t tell lies, trust me I’m an estate agent! I focus on listing properties. I track every sale in my area and know exactly what similar houses sold for, but my skill is not predicting what a house is going to sell for before it is sold.I view this as dangerous as if you are not spot on and how can you be? You have either priced the property too high or too low – neither of which serve the seller or the buyer. In this information age, it is really only marketing and negotiating skills that I can offer my clients. It is best to leave the pricing to the buyers – at the end of the day, they are more “price” savvy than most sellers and in some cases, even the salesperson! Anyway that is not my point so best I get to it.I don’t support misleading advertising or sleazy practices. What I notice with your sales data is 2 things, firstly none of the sales achieved more than the ask price(that would be unusual even almost impossible) and secondly the sellers were prepared to accept in most cases a fair bit less than their ask price. I auction all my properties, there are no “seller bids” or “phantom bids” and bidding starts at wherever the first buyer decides. Normally uncomfortably low and the price is set when the buyers stop bidding. The free market dictates the price, the seller witnesses this unraveling in front of their eyes.In some cases they are thrilled and achieve $160 000 (Kiwi) more than we all thought “their house was worth”. In others they see for themselves that the market wont meet their aspirations and they either need to adjust their thinking or switch to plan B and keep their home. Simple … as long as the agent delivers remarkable service, creates a world class marketing campaign and makes it real easy for the buyer to buy by providing information. I see some other stuff is going on in your cases but I say long live the free market and I believe that an honest auction reflects the free market in its purest form. I don’t ever discuss the price with the Seller or the Buyers (It is such fun -try it).The only reference I would make about price during the campaign to both seller and buyers is providing them with every sale in the suburb and leave the interpretation to them. In exchange for my world famous pricing reports I do ask every buyer where they see the property selling and pass that info on to the seller – it is important information. I feel like I am a guest writer and not just making a short comment, so thanks again Frank and do you have any time to help me set up my blog?I reckon you are wasted in real estate? Kidding mate.
Steve

By: Lee Baybrook

Lee Baybrook — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Hi Frank,
Yes–agreed. I would say the bank’s price is a little too low if they receive 5-10 offers in the first week. But it seems to be a listing strategy that is working for them, even if it breaks the hearts of most of the interested buyers. =)
Best,
Lee

By: FRANK LL0SA Va Broker- BLOG.FranklyRealty.com

FRANK LL0SA Va Broker- BLOG.FranklyRealty.com — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:54:00 +0000

Hey Lee,
True about the REOs getting bid up and are kinda like silent auctions. But I still find that even AFTER the bid up, the final price is still far short of resale comps. So the bidding up is not hitting the market value, and also not going over market value.

I think they would do better if they just priced 5% below market instead of 10% below and getting it bid up 2%.

Frank

By: Lee Baybrook

Lee Baybrook — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 00:20:00 +0000

It has long been known that the real estate “auction” is just another marketing gimmick. You start to wonder if consumers have some innate desire to be hustled. In a similar light, you could consider the extremely under-priced REOs “silent auctions” as they tend to spark competition and rapidly generate multiple offers.

By: Dave B

Dave B — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:11:00 +0000

Just noticed you have a link on the FX listings with tax and owner info. Many thanks, that is very useful (I used to keep that page open in a separate tab; now you’ve saved me the trouble of typing in the address).

By: NovaHomeGuy

NovaHomeGuy — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:50:00 +0000

Good example as these housing types are the biggest "up in the air" prices right now.

I can confirm these auctioning/marketing techniques are used on regular mass REO auctions.

Its amazing how hard it is for an investor to hold down their paddle when the price soars above their target price!

"Just one more time..."

By: Kevin Connelly

Kevin Connelly — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:10:00 +0000

Seller held financing, is gaining popularity especially in the higher price ranges, and if the buyer makes their payments, these second trusts can provide a superior yield on a sellers money. the lender wants to see at least ten percent down from the buyer before they will allow the seller held second. And as mentioned in the blog, make sure the terms of the second are acceptable to the first trust lender.

By: tchaka owen

tchaka owen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:34:00 +0000

I gotta give this company a thumbs up for auctioning a short-sale because like you pointed out, the bank could say “no way” and all that was for nothing. Did they make it clear to bidders that it was subject to third party approval?

Good article Frank! Thanks for sharing the auction experience.