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“An auction spells desperation in capital letters. It marks the property in a way that sends the wrong message.”
- Michael Signet, director of sales at Bond New York, on the increase of property auctions across the United States as the housing market has tightened and people are having difficultly selling their homes even at decreased prices. Chicago has not been shielded from this phenomenon; just this week Rick Levin & Associates announced a “mega auction” of hundreds of condos, single-family homes, and townhomes in Chicago, Grayslake, Libertyville, Lombard, Mount Prospect, Schiller Park, Lincolnshire and Belmont Cragin. A handful of area condo developments – McKinley Park Lofts, Jazz on the Boulevard in North Kenwood and Vetro in the South Loop – have also gone the auction route.
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Signet’s got it only partially right. An auction sometimes, but not always, spells desperation.
An auction is sometimes the preferred way to liquidate a few remnant units quickly. It can be a good way to sell units quickly into a rising market also.
At one point in the 80s, as the market rebounded, I gave serious consideration to auctioning blocks of 13, 24, 56, and 80 units at various city and suburban tax-shelter partnerships I controlled. Rather than an act of desperation the auction would have been an alternative to setting up sales and marketing programs, etc., and would likely have yielded the same or better bottom line.
But for the fact that Sheldon Good badly annoyed one of my partners, the units would have gone to auction.
Hmmm Joe, what happened to the disparaging piece on Fletcher Row’s neighborhood. It just disappeared. I had posted to a lengthy reply to the review, and now it’s gone. What gives?
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