Deal Update

The Auction is on!

My first open house/open bid auction started today and I actually had visitors! I think that 14 people walked through the house and 2 said they planned on returning tomorrow to make a bid. It's not to say that things have gone off without a hitch...

My initial plan was to list the property/auction on a Fee Only MLS listing for $400 to get the real estate agent traffic driven to my auction. Unfortunately, since I only have a contract on the property, my normal fee-only guy wouldn't list it for me. I had to be the owner of record/titleholder to be able t0 list with him... Bummer. By the time I had learned this (I turned in a completed packet with photos/etc and got the news direct from the broker a day later,) it was too late to be able to find a new fee listing service... double bummer... Since I was shooting for a retail buyer & 90% of all retail sales involve an agent and the MLS; you'll understand my state of mind about not getting onto the MLS.

I filled out/paid for a weekend 'open house' listing in the local paper with a photo & 12 lines of text. Was supposed to run Friday, Saturday & Sunday... I got a call Friday afternoon that there was a mixup with their online posting and she was calling to confirm that I wanted to be in the open house section on Sunday May4th and the weekend of May 9,10 & 11. What? I scheduled to be in the paper May 2, 3 & 4 and nothing about any other weekend. Major screw-up. AND, in a grand gesture of customer service and goodwill, she said she'd cancel the extra weekend at no charge. Oh, and Mr Taylor? Would you like to stay in the paper for Sunday May4th? YES!!!!
I was successful in getting my online USPS postcard to get mailed to every business & resident address within a 1 mile radius. (How to get such a list? That is a post unto itself...) See pict of my $1000 reward postcard. I had at least 3 visitors today that had seen the card & one intended on giving it to her friend on Sunday.


Signs. I ordered 50 Yellow Auction notice signs. I originally intended on using 25 this weekend and 25 for my next auction in a couple weeks, but decided to put out about 35 instead. Good thing too, because the other 11 people who came by the auction today all said that they followed the signs to get to the house... One even said that I did a good job with all the signs. "I couldn't miss them if I wanted to...", he said.

So, Sunday is the actual 'Auction' or open bid part of the open house weekend. It will be in the paper and I expect to see more traffic due to the exposure. I am going to make up another 8 signs to replace those that will be stolen/lost tonight. (I did get a kick out of posting about 3 signs in front of a Long & Foster Realty training center. It was at a major intersection and I couldn't miss the exposure, but I did get a little chuckle at the irony that there was likely a room with eager new real estate agents learning about how to list & sell a property when at that very moment I was out front posting "Auction Today!" signs...)

Irony. Good to the last drop.