Real Estate Auctions are Turning Real Estate into Cash

April 22, 2010 - PRLog -- Western Colorado, like many regions of the country, has been plagued by a slow real estate market. Values have dropped 30 percent from the peak in 2006, and it’s not at all uncommon to see listings stagnate on the market for two, three, or even four years. To top it all off, a wave of foreclosure properties threatens to drag the market down even further.

More and more Colorado property owners are turning to auctions as an immediate solution to getting property sold. In some regions of the country, auction is a normal and welcomed means of selling property. “In Oklahoma, 80 percent of all farm property is sold through auction,” says Shawn Terrell, Vice President of Auction Services at United Country Real Estate’s main office in Kansas City, Mo. “It’s just how business is done.”

In Colorado, auction is becoming an ever more popular means of selling real estate – and both buyers and sellers are warming to the concept. “Our goal is to sell property at market value,” says Mike Krieg of United Country - RealQuest Realty in Grand Junction, Colo.

Mike Krieg and Gary Hubbell, a United Country ranch broker based in Hotchkiss, Colo., have teamed up to sponsor a multi-property auction in Grand Junction, Colo., on May 15, 2010. “It’s a great way for sellers to reach the maximum number of people,” Hubbell says. “When people learn about auction properties, they really research them. We’ll get more activity on an auction listing in the next three weeks than the next fifty or so listings combined. We’re putting a lot of marketing power to work – custom websites, billboards, television ads and reporting, radio ads, flyers, email blasts, print ads – you name it.”

In order for an auction scenario to work, there has to be some incentive for buyers to participate, according to Terrell. He recommends that sellers consign their properties with a minimum bid price of 50-60 percent of the property’s perceived market value. “Any buyer can come into a real estate office and offer 80 percent of the listed price on a property,” says Gary Hubbell. “You need to get the bidding started and sometimes through the auction process, properties will actually sell for more than the previous listing price.”

Hubbell and Krieg predict that auctions will become a much more popular means of selling Colorado real estate, and their auction portfolio includes consignments from all over Colorado. “We’ve got a great mix of properties,” Krieg said. “We have some nice building lots between Colorado Springs and Pueblo, a popular resort near Durango, a beautiful mountain lodge in Marble, a nice ranch property on Glade Park near Grand Junction that will sell at absolute auction, a log home on 38 acres near Montrose, two farm parcels with great views near Crawford, a couple of horse property building lots near Delta, and a really nice recreation parcel on the Crystal River. We put them online for our buyers to see at www.coloradopropertyauctions.net. ”

Three weeks prior to the auction, “The phone is ringing off the hook,” Krieg said. “I’ve gotten 30 or 40 phone calls on one single property. You wouldn’t be able to say that if it were in a conventional listing cycle.”

Successful auction bidders must close on a property within 30 days of the auction and no contingencies are allowed, so the sellers know if the property is sold, they have a definite solution to their real estate issues – and cash in hand.

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About United Country
United Country Real Estate is the largest fully integrated franchise network of conventional real estate and auction real estate professionals in the United States. Based in Kansas City, Mo., the company has been an innovator in real estate marketing since 1925. United Country supports nearly 675 offices across the U.S. and in Costa Rica with a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes one of the largest portfolios of property marketing web sites (more than 1,000 separate sites), seven proprietary real estate catalogs with a cumulative distribution of 1.5 million, an extensive, current buyer database and national advertising of properties to more than 90 million potential buyer prospects a week. United Country has been recognized by Dun and Bradstreet’s AllBusiness.com as the Top U.S. real estate franchise, the Wall Street Journal as a Top 1 percent franchise and among Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500® top 100 global franchises.

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