More real estate being sold at public auctions
Public auctions are a popular way to draw a crowd of bidders for various items, including real estate.
鈥淲hen you sell real estate at auction, it is the public bidding. So buyers attend and bid against each other to arrive at a price as opposed to private negotiations between the seller and a single buyer,鈥� said Sandra Brittingham of Rittenhouse Auction Co. in Vanderbilt.
鈥淩esidential, farms, commercial properties can be sold at auction. I have many people tell me that they were not aware that real estate can be sold this way 鈥� I usually have to do a 鈥榗ommercial鈥� when I meet with people to explain the process,鈥� she added.
鈥淭here are a lot of advantages to selling real estate at a public auction,鈥� she said.
鈥淭here are some types (of real estate auctions) when the seller can get more money than what he wants. If a price is not advertised and there are several people bidding against each other, the seller can get more money. The majority of the time, the property is sold for market value,鈥� she said.
Rittenhouse Auction Co., she added, has had clients from all over the country. 鈥淲e have sold property at auction for people from Texas, Tennessee and Washington.
Public real estate auctions, she said, 鈥渁re a good way for people involved with estates to sell property.
鈥淭hese people may have inherited property in our area but they lived outside the state. They need a buyer now.
鈥淚 just talked to a fellow from Texas who was visiting here. We had sold his father鈥檚 property that was located here. He got just the price he expected and it sold faster than he expected,鈥� she said.
Selling real estate at auction, she said, is becoming more popular. She and her father, Wylie Rittenhouse, a long-time local auctioneer, have sold thousands of properties at auction over the past three decades.
鈥淲hatever the high bid is becomes a bid to the seller,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e have auctions that are subject to approval by the seller so he does not have to accept the bid. We always sell our real estate subject to the owner鈥檚 approval. There also are absolute auctions where the property sells for the highest bid.
鈥淲e market the real estate to a wide audience. There is a big production put on for marketing prior to the auction to get the word out to potential bidders. It reaches a different target market than when a real estate sale is put on privately.
鈥淲e have a mailing list we have maintained for over 30 years of people who prefer to buy at auction. If a real estate auction is properly marketed you will get the market value of the property on that day.鈥� she said.
Rittenhouse Auction Co. also goes advertises real estate auctions via its website (www.rittenhouseauction.com) and prepares a brochure to mail out to potential bidders.
鈥淎ll the neighbors around the property are notified because if they aren鈥檛 interested in the property they may have family or friends who are,鈥� Brittingham said.
鈥淧roperties are sold in 鈥榓s is鈥� condition, which means if there is anything wrong with the property the buyer accepts that. We have had buyers who have had home inspections done prior to the auction and buyers who have gone to the bank to get an appraisal of the property.
鈥淲e require a deposit from the high bidder the day of the auction, usually 10 percent of the bid. The balance is due within 45 days of the auction. There are no contingencies so if the bidder can鈥檛 come up with the balance due then he loses his deposit,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e sold the Central School building and the kindergarten center (in downtown Uniontown) at auction. By using a public auction, no one could come back and say politics was involved in who bought the property. If it鈥檚 a public auction, then anyone can bid,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e have done ballroom auctions where we go to a facility like the Holiday Inn and sell 10 to 15 properties at one time. We put signs on the properties advertising when and where the auction will be held. We can sell a multiple number of properties using a power point presentation,鈥� Brittingham added.
While selling real estate at public auctions is in its infancy in the U.S., Brittingham said that in the future there will be 鈥渕any, many more.鈥�
Brittingham and Rittenhouse are real estate brokers in addition to being licensed auctioneers. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to be a broker if you have an auctioneers license but we feel we should be educated and knowledgeable about real estate rules and regulations to do the best for our clients.鈥�
They are members of the Fayette County Board of Realtors.
For more information, visit their website, email Brittingham at Sandy@Rittenhouseauction.com or call 724-438-0581.