I received an e-mail flyer earlier today from Chicago Agent Magazine advertising an October 17 real estate auction by a company I hadn’t heard of – despite its claim that it has been “the Premiere (sic) destination for Buyer’s (sic) looking for affordable housing throughout Cook County.” A rather curious description for an auction company, no?
The auction sponsor is The Chicagoland Real Estate Auction, which received a real estate broker license earlier this month. The auctioneer license referenced on the site (441.0001129) expired four years ago, according to the state database.
The auction has a number of unusual features, including seller financing at a 12.5% interest rate, a “Post-Auction Purchase Price Reduction Incentive” and a location I couldn’t find on the company’s Web site (chicagolandauction.net).
I won’t go into further detail, just give you my bottom line opinion: this strikes me as a situation that any intelligent person will avoid completely – unless, of course, that intelligent person is conducting an investigation on behalf of a local, state or federal law enforcement agency.
Joe Zekas,
You believe this is a scam, but provide ZERO evidence to support this. The Chicagoland Real Estate Auction has been in business since the mId 90’s, offering thousands of properties for sale. The Auction Location has been the SAME since the very first Auction. (The Congress Plaza Hotel) In addition, the location of the Auction is on the home page of the Website, along with our phone number and Email address. We are here from 9-5 Monday thru Friday to answer your questions, and have an office in Downtown Chicago from which we work. I do not recall receiving a call from you, or you attending our Auction; which is confusing based on your claims.
Lastly, All licenses are current, including the Auctioneer license which does not expire until 12/31/2010.
I aprreciate your opinion and questions, its a shame you didn’t attend the Auction, but still feel qualified to comment on it. The October Auction sold over 85% of the properties offered, and all were offered with Seller Financing. Only 5% down, let’s see a Bank compete with that!
We have many satisfied customers. Our Auction is free to attend, and we hope you will stop by and see what we are all about.
Updating your site after my post doesn’t change anything. Saying I provide ZERO evidence doesn’t make it so. Did you read my post in full?
The license # I referenced, which was on your site at the time of my post, remains expired as of today, per the state database.
I’ve deleted the link to your site from your screen name so that your site doesn’t gain any search optimization from your comment..
It’s a shame you can’t challenge any of my factual assertions.
Send me a list of your satisfied buyers and I’ll contact them and verify how satisfied they are. Attach your name to your comments so we can know who’s standing behind your statements. Tjhat’s what legitimate businesses do.
As mentioned before, all Licenses are active. SEARCH FOR LICENSEE BY PROFESSION:
Auctioneer
441001129 ACTIVE CHICAGO, IL 07/28/2004
exp: 12/31/2010
Again, I invite you to attend our next Auction
Congrats on finally finding a licensed auctioneer.
I’m sure our audience will ignore the RICO (racketeering) complaint (pdf file) filed against him and other defendants in federal court.
No doubt you are a party to the law suit in question. Nice try.
Jack:
If anyone at YoChicago were party to a lawsuit against Chicagoland Real Estate Auction, he’d disclose it.
While we’re discussing disclosure, is it sheer coincidence that your IP address matches the address of commenters “chicagoland auction” and “The Chicagoland Real Estate Auction”? It’s hard to gain credibility when you’re changing your name every two weeks.