Is there a better way to get auction-related questions answered than asking an auctioneer directly? Probably not.

Our TRACfaq system is an easy way to get your questions in front of Paul Sobwick, CAI, AARE, CES. Those designations — Certified Auctioneers Institute, Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate, and Certified Estate Specialist — mean that Paul likely has a good answer to any auction-related question you may have.

What’s great about this system is that every answer we post becomes a part of our searchable database. By participating you’ll give other auction buyers, sellers and agents a little auction education!

So go ahead… Ask the Auctioneer!

A couple years ago, we outgrew our copier. It didn’t break… it worked fine. We just outgrew it. I couldn’t convince any of our employees to take it. None of our neighbors on the floor wanted it. It was too big to put in the dumpster, and, besides, it worked fine.

I asked an assistant to call some junk removal companies. $100 was the best quote she received.  Three days later, we paid $100 to have a perfectly good copier removed from our office. The whole concept bothered me.

So here I am a few years later thinking about how to make the best use of our online bidding platform. We built this system to allow absentee online bidding on our real estate inventory, but the reality is it can be used to sell just about anything. We’ve enjoyed watching it expand from real estate into related goods and services and more.

Just last week I had 2 sit downs with owners of real estate which we’ve since signed up for auction. Both of them had baby grand pianos in the house; and neither of them had a clue what they were going to do with the piano. “It’s a fixture. It stays with the house,” said one. “I don’t care what happens to this thing,” said the other.

Let’s say your prospective buyer doesn’t want a piano in his new family room. Are you prepared to spend the money to move it? Remember what it cost me to have an old copier removed? Thinking about pushing it outside on trash day? Good luck!  Or perhaps you’ll just plan to advertise it for a “quick” sale? I have a better idea….

Just Take It Away.  Post your large, heavy, unwanted yet (perhaps) valuable items in the Pick-Up Only section of our site, where retrieval/removal of the item is always the responsibility of the buyer. Save some money, make some money, feel good and be done with it!

–Tom Gimer, Principal, x111

We’ve been telling folks for years that auction marketing would continue to increase in popularity. Some time ago the National Association of REALTORS predicted that auctions would comprise 20% or more of all real estate transactions by the year 2010. We believe current economic conditions are accelerating this trend and that the numbers will be higher, sooner.

Why?  Because auction companies like TRAC do more than just sell properties…. we are real estate problem solvers. And there are plenty of problems out there. During our weekly sales meetings we devote significant floor time to discussing ingenious new methods of moving real estate in difficult markets. As a result, properties that before might have seemed impossible to sell have been given new life. Today I would like to briefly highlight one of these methods, a program we developed which is called “the Full Disclosure Auction.”

In the Full Disclosure Auction, we take on a real estate problem which is prevalent in the Mid-Atlantic: a seller owns property which has a value roughly equal to or slightly in excess of the current balance of all mortgages and liens on title.  Some REALTORS® may look at this situation as a short-sale opportunity. We don’t… not just because short sales are tedious and unpredictable and lenders are often unresponsive, unreasonable and uncooperative, but because a short sale puts no cash in the seller’s pocket and solves little in the credit and credit reporting context. Instead, we look at this as an opportunity to provide an exit strategy which addresses these issues while at the same time requiring us to drive bidding above and beyond the level required to pay off existing liens in order to earn our pay. That’s right, we often structure these transactions in such a maner that we take the risk that even with a successful sale, we may earn little to no money.

With a Full Disclosure Auction, the seller authorizes us to post the reserve. Thus there is no mystery on the buyer’s side as to what price will be required to own the property. Further, as stated above, the auction company earns money only if it is successful in driving bidding north of the posted reserve. How can we make such a deal work when other real estate professionals cannot? Analysis, investment and targeted marketing.

1. Analysis: we perform our own evaluation of each property and the surrounding market. We accept only those properties which we feel have a high likelihood of a successful sale based upon all of the circumstances.

2. Investment: the TRAC team invests significant time, energy, money and more into each property to present it in the best possible light. If site cleanup or repairs will enhance the value, our team will take on the work.

3. Targeted marketing: buyers must be located and drawn to participate in the auction. Depending on location, value, and other factors, we assemble lists and reach out to each prospective bidder directly. We create the interest and urgency necessary for a successful sale. We pre-sell a large percentage of properties enrolled in these auction programs as a result.

This program is just one of many we offer our sellers. If you are a seller and it sounds like a Full Disclosure Auction or some other method might solve your real estate problem, please feel free to contact us to discuss further.

–Tom Gimer, Principal, x111

Once our signs go up sellers often see a huge increase in buyer interest, showings and offers. Since our sellers have retained us to assist with a fast sale on a non-contingent contract, we like to solicit offers from buyers on these terms. To make things easy, and to enable our sellers to compare apples with apples, we have a pre-auction offer package on our website. All you need to do is register with our site and this and other standard forms are available in the Real Estate Forms menu on the left column. For those prospective buyers who wish to include contingencies in your offers… just make sure you plan to remove them prior to the scheduled auction or we’ll more than likely be calling the sale!

Note: TRAC sells approximately 40% of all properties enrolled prior to auction. Don’t wait until auction day to express your interest in a property or you may miss out!