Welcome to the Market, LA Times Media Group

We’re pleased to see the Los Angeles Times Media Group embracing the use of auctions for the sale of non distressed real estate. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-times23-2008aug23,0,3290447.story

From what we can tell they are basically following the same model that eBay and other auction posting organizations are doing. They’re not adhering to the traditional real estate auction model which requires knowledgeable professionals to evaluate the real estate, select the proper auction process, create viable minimum bids and or reserve prices and create credibility that at the end of the auction process the property will in fact be sold.

Kudos to them – in our experience of being the leader in the real estate auction industry for some 40 years plus, the ZetaBid venture will simply expand the acceptance of the auction process for selling quality US real estate as is the case in other parts of the world like Australia and the U.K. (Click here to read the article in National Real Estate Investor Magazine that ranks us as the top real estate auction company: http://nreionline.com/finance/investors/real_estate_hear_bid_0701/index.html)

Integrating Live With Broadcast
There are many ways to integrate online and offsite bidding for real estate auctions beyond just conducting the whole auction online. Sheldon Good & Company has done this successfully on several occasions.

Simulcasting Online
In Jackson Hole, WY we simulcast the live real estate auction online. 85% of the bids came in online from buyers who saw the property but it felt it was not convenient to return for the auction. We had similar results for two subsequent auctions of fractional at the Teton Club. Click here for an article that helped promote the auction and the online bidding component http://www.snowboard-revolution.com/news/Properties-to-be-auctioned-at-Jackson-Hole.html and here to see how the online component of the auction worked and to view results of the auction: http://www.proxibid.com/asp/AuctionsByCompany.asp?ahid=1206.

Phone Bank Bidding
We’ve employed phone bank bidding in several real estate auctions. At Grand Summit in Park City, UT, the auction was conducted in Salt Lake City but we operated a phone bank with 6 people taking bids which worked really well. Click here to read all about it http://lhonline.com/mag/auctions_redux/.

Phone Patch
A similar tactic was integrated when Sheldon Good & Company conducted three auctions of large portfolios of real estate, this time manufactured homes for the client Affordable Residential Communities. Click here to read the press release http://www.sheldongood.com/news.php?id=7&listing=206 and an article about the auction http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2005/10/31/daily69.html. The properties were located all over the US. For the second and third auctions, we employed a phone bank where bidders called in and were patched in to the auction via conference call, then bid by hitting pound. An operator manned a computer at the auction would connect to the person to get information about their bids.

Simulcasting
This technology helped sell the Trump Plaza via real estate auction in West Palm Beach, FL. The market was scattered across the Eastern seaboard. Therefore, we conducted the physical auction in Palm Beach, and then simulcast it in New York and Chicago. 60% of the bids were from Palm Beach, 25% from New York and 15% from Chicago. This auction is mentioned in this article, click here http://sf.therealdeal.com/articles/real-estate-auctions-spark-sales.

Steve Good is Chairman and CEO of Sheldon Good & Company. He is an attorney, Accredited Auctioneer of Real Estate, licensed REALTOR in several states and author of a top-selling book; Churches, Jails and Gold Mines...Mega-Deals from a Real Estate Maverick (Kaplan, hardcover). The book features an afterword by Donald Trump.