Auction Tomorrow - Reserves Lowered

how many of your auctions will be sold absolute?

I'm curious about one of your auctions, 62 Thicket Circle in WaterColor. I watched this house since they broke ground on it and am very familiar with the history of it in the MLS. The listing agent had it advertised at a price around $895,000 for a while. About two days prior to seeing it advertised in your auction, I noticed a price change in the MLS, changing the price to something like, $1.395 million. Was this done so as a marketing tool for the auction and do you encourage sellers to raise their listing price prior to it coming to the auction, in hopes of using the high listing price as a feature when describing the property at auction, or, is the seller doing this on his/her own?

On, or about 11/5/2007 62 Thicket Circle raised their price from $985,000 to $1,395,000; a 41.62% INCREASE. Dont ya just love it.

On, or about 11/5/2007 62 Thicket Circle raised their price from $985,000 to $1,395,000; a 41.62% INCREASE. Dont ya just love it.

I could have sworn that the add for sale in the Sun was at $895K -- maybe bad memory or a typo. I understand that the builder turned down a very nice offer of well over a million, when he was only about 3-4 months into the build. Cannot blame him because values were increasing a couple hundred grand in a couple of months back then.

I do notice the adjacent house to the north, 72 Thicket Circle, is currently priced at $849,000.

I will add that today's buyers are some of the most researched buyers I've ever seen and they look at all things like this before considering purchasing. I think sellers must think they buyers are not doing simple basic research before ever stepping foot in or on a property.

That property was dropped in the MLS to $985,000 well after we had advertised the minimum bid at $900,000. It was done by mistake. It was only listed that way for 5 days.

That property was dropped in the MLS to $985,000 well after we had advertised the minimum bid at $900,000. It was done by mistake. It was only listed that way for 5 days.

Looking at the listing in the MLS under auctions, I see that the minimum bid was left blank. Since there is a minimum bid which you state above, why don't you guys complete the mls sheet as required by the mls rules?

Comps in the area reflect the 800K range, not 1.3. Thats Sq Ft , Bed-Bath, etc, locaton etc, I can go on and on. In todays market, @ 1.3 it will sit. Maybe Next week it will fly,, but for this day, no way.

PS, Not ragging on you, really, just stating facts as of this minute. Hope you do get it all.

I agree. If the minimum bid is $900,000, it will not sell tomorrow. As I stated, the adjacent house, 72 Thicket Cir, is priced at $849K and offers similar sq footage, similar location, similar materials and craftsmanship. I've been in both.

What's it worth to you SJ?

Same thing going on with the Roebuck auctions. 2 of the homes at Magnolia had asking price increases in September 2007. One home jumped from 505K to 625K and the other home's asking price jumped from 590 to 675K. Didn't make sense at the time.

What's it worth to you SJ?

Mr. Auction man, SJ is not on trial regarding this issue. You, your firm, your seller, and other parties are. I am quite alarmed by this thread, and your responses. For the sake of your reputation, your auction company, and perhaps SoWal auctions in general, please expound upon the events surrounding this snake charmer and switch and bait sales pricing approach. Further, the market being stated as 800k-900s raises long standing issues why anyone would show up to this or any of your auctions.

I look forward to your rather detailed and forthright explanation.

Sincerely.

What's it worth to you SJ?

Too rich for my blood, but to answer your question with the obvious, it is worth what a buyer is willing to pay. It is a very nice house, though I think the upstairs is a little tight feeling with the ceiling height, after walking through the tall ceilings downstairs. It appears very well constructed, and I notice many upgrades. I think you could find a buyer in today's market in that 750K-800K range, which might sound low compared to the highs of the market, but I think that is the real price to expect today. Ask me again in two years, and I may have a different answer for that day.

For the record, I don't think PAG was putting me on trial with his question. Sounds to me as though he/she is curious to hear what I think the realistic price for which the property would sell.

Some properties I've seen, have exciting prices, but many other sellers need to get realistic, and until they do, their properties won't sell, even by going to auction. The only reason a seller would refuse to sell Absolute at an auction is that they fear knowing the real selling price. Just my opinion.

Same thing going on with the Roebuck auctions. 2 of the homes at Magnolia had asking price increases in September 2007. One home jumped from 505K to 625K and the other home's asking price jumped from 590 to 675K. Didn't make sense at the time.

All of the properties for the Roebuck Auction are no longer on the market. I have been researching these properties for some time, I am NOT involved with the auction company. At one point our market made a positive jump in the fall, Sept/Oct and perhaps this is why the price was increased at that time. The owners were probably hoping to sell a few properties prior to auction time. My crystal ball is not working today otherwise I would have a better answer.

All of the prominent attorney's properties had an asking price increase in September. I don't buy the price spike theory in September.

Mr. Auction man, SJ is not on trial regarding this issue. You, your firm, your seller, and other parties are. I am quite alarmed by this thread, and your responses. For the sake of your reputation, your auction company, and perhaps SoWal auctions in general, please expound upon the events surrounding this snake charmer and switch and bait sales pricing approach. Further, the market being stated as 800k-900s raises long standing issues why anyone would show up to this or any of your auctions.

I look forward to your rather detailed and forthright explanation.

Sincerely.

Wow...sounds like mr. auction man upset you. Just for the record. I didn't take the post that way at all. I just thought that PAG was asking what SJ thought was a good price if he thought it was too high. PAG, what did you mean? Seems like you had us all taking that different ways.

I have been following RE in the area for awhile and I looked at the prices on the website. I can't claim to know much about the auction stuff becuase I bought way before auctions, but I thought some were definately better than others. I would say that the Gulf Front Townhome really blew me away. $650,000? Now that is a great buy if you ask me. Even in this market. I also heard that one was sold pre-auction. Anybody know anything about that?

Atl,

The gulf front townhome has a reserve of $625K, not $650K. Thanks for the postive words, it's hard to get around here sometimes. For the record, I'm not putting anybody on trial.

2 properties have been sold before the auction. This will be my last response for the day.

Hope to see all of you there.

All of the prominent attorney's properties had an asking price increase in September. I don't buy the price spike theory in September.

I don't think all of his properties were listed prior to this auction.

I beg to differ. I watch this area like a hawk.

"That property was dropped in the MLS to $985,000 well after we had advertised the minimum bid at $900,000. It was done by mistake. It was only listed that way for 5 days."

Wow, this is convenient ... done by mistake ... do you really think people don't look at this information?

"Looking at the listing in the MLS under auctions, I see that the minimum bid was left blank. Since there is a minimum bid which you state above, why don't you guys complete the mls sheet as required by the mls rules?"

This is very frustrating too. PAG did not answer this very good question. If I ever make a "mistake" or leave something out in the MLS, I get a warning and have to correct it immediately. Guess not everyone has to play by the rules.

"Mr. Auction man, SJ is not on trial regarding this issue. You, your firm, your seller, and other parties are. I am quite alarmed by this thread, and your responses. For the sake of your reputation, your auction company, and perhaps SoWal auctions in general, please expound upon the events surrounding this snake charmer and switch and bait sales pricing approach. Further, the market being stated as 800k-900s raises long standing issues why anyone would show up to this or any of your auctions. I look forward to your rather detailed and forthright explanation."

As expected, no response to this post from PAG. It is mindboggling to me that PAG continues to post and when the questions start coming, they only answer the ones that sound positive. If you are going to continue to post this auction information, then you better be prepared to answer some tough questions and explain to people why purchasing at your auction would be a better opportunity than buying from the agent that has the property listed. I wonder how the seller's of these properties would feel about all of this? Because in my opinion, I agree with georgeinnwfl that it makes all real estate auction companies look bad.

"Atl,The gulf front townhome has a reserve of $625K, not $650K. Thanks for the postive words, it's hard to get around here sometimes. For the record, I'm not putting anybody on trial. 2 properties have been sold before the auction.

This will be my last response for the day. Hope to see all of you there."

Last response for the day, huh? Like I said, dodged all the questions, and now is going to run away ... really makes you wonder!

All of the prominent attorney's properties had an asking price increase in September. I don't buy the price spike theory in September.

I don't either.

Lately it seems that every auction has a funny smell to it- be it the auction happened, but absolute properties were pulled so they really weren't ab solute, or nobody seems to know if anything actually sold and closed, or selling prices are mysteriously raised before auctions- what happened to the days where an item goes to auction, it is either absolute or it is not, the high bidder wins, and the property truly changes hands?

SoWal Sage, you can always report their 11 listings in the MLS to ECAR if you think they are not abiding by the rules and ECAR will send them notice to correct their listings. Problem is that the auction is tomorrow and that type of violation is only a Class II violation which means they will have two days to correct the listing without penalty. By the time that passes, the auction will be completed, so it is really a waste of time reporting the incident.

Good luck with the auction tomorrow, PAG. I would genuinely be delighted to see all of the properties sell. I just want to make sure that the buying public is protected and informed, and that Realtors are getting accurate information when they pull a listing in the MLS.

SoWal Sage and others? Do you know if PAG had the MLS listing at the time of the dropped price? My mls research actually shows all price changes were done by the listing agent prior to PAG having it under them in the MLS.

If the auction company is affiliated with ECAR (emerald coast assoc of realtors), and they are entering their data properly, it will take some work to see if they entered the sold info. The reason is that once an auctioned property closes (sold), the auction company is required to change the category of the property from auction to whatever it is, attached single family, residential land, detached single family, etc., so that the sales data for all like properties is found under one search, even if the sale was an auction. So for example, the two auctions for the duplex at 156 Chivas Ln are listed in with auctions as sold, but they should have been moved into the category of attached single family, and entered as sold, so that when a Realtor or an appraiser looks for comps of attached single family homes, they will see the properties sold at auction in addition to any sold otherwise via a Realtor.

SoWal Sage and others? Do you know if PAG had the MLS listing at the time of the dropped price? My mls research actually shows all price changes were done by the listing agent prior to PAG having it under them in the MLS.

Only the listing broker/agent can enter the price changes in the mls and in the case of 62 Thicket Cir, the price was changed when another company and agent had the listing.