Residential Real Estate Auctions

A beautiful home in The Ledges at Sonoran Mountain Ranch, a new master planned community in the thriving Phoenix suburb of Peoria, Arizona, will soon be featured in a MUST SELL® auction on FRE.com. The auction starts this Wednesday, February 24th, 2010  until it reaches the Bid Deadline on April 1st, 2010.

This luxury home was built by Camelot Homes, a renowned Arizona developer, and consists of more than 3,000 square feet, 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Of course, the backyard has a gorgeous pool to help you escape the Arizona heat. However, there are plenty of highlights in the city of Peoria that are worth checking out before the auction starts:

• CNN Money ranked Peoria as one of the top 100 best cities to live in 2008
• One of Peoria’s biggest attractions is the Peoria Sports Complex which hosts the spring training for the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariner’s baseball teams.
• Cool off from the summer heat at one of Arizona’s most popular lakes, Pleasant Lake
• There are dozens of golf courses to choose from in and around the greater Peoria area

Touch base with us at our online auction site, FRE.com, this Wednesday to see the auction and to view the full viewing schedule.

Photo by redfive99 @ Flickr.com

The LFC Group of Companies, the industry leaders in the online auction marketing of real estate, is proud announce their latest auction campaign on the company’s residential auction website FRE.com: a luxurious oceanfront estate in Dana Point’s The Strand at Headlands, southern California’s last and most exclusive beachfront community. The developer of Vista al Mar, an exquisite Santa Barbara-style custom beach home once priced at over $15 million, has set an opening bid of just $7.5 million.

If  you would like to continue reading this story about our newest online auction, click here. Or, you can visit the online auction webpage at FRE.com.

In this next post in our Using Online Auctions series, I’ll dispel a common myth that real estate auctions are only suited for distressed properties. In fact, online auctions are perfectly suited for sellers with brand new properties. As you’ll see, online auctions are increasingly seen as an alternative marketing strategy, not a last resort option.

Sellers elect to auction properties and forgo a traditional real estate sale primarily because of one over-arching reason: auctions accelerate sales. Below are several characteristics of the online auction that ensure velocity of sale.

• The Bid Deadline
  • The Bid Deadline creates a sense of urgency for prospective buyers, getting all those fence-sitters in the game.
  • The Bid Deadline also lets everyone know that there is a certain date of sale.
• Focus Market Attention
  • LFC’s online auction campaigns feature aggressive marketing campaigns that grab buyer attention
• Global Reach
  • Online auctions have a global reach.
  • Bidders can perform all their due diligence and submit bids from anywhere in the world. Bidders no longer have to show up at a ballroom for a live, outcry auction.

Do you agree with these benefits of an online auction? Do you think using a conventional real estate sale is better? We would love to hear from you so please send us your comments.

The next post in our Using Online Auction Series will compare outcry auctions with online auctions.

Real estate auctions are the all the buzz these days, and there is a lot of auction vocabulary that can easily confuse people who are unfamiliar with the process. Given that the LFC Group of Companies has been conducting auctions for over 30 years, we decided to do a series of posts that can help clear up any confusion or misconceptions about auctions.

This is the first post in our series, Using Online Auctions. Today, we’re going to quickly summarize several different types of auctions.

1. Absolute Auction/No Reserve

• With an Absolute Auction, there is no reserve price, and the seller is obligated to accept the highest bid, no matter what the amount.

2. Minimum Bid

• The Minimum Bid is the least amount that you may initially bid for a property.

3. Reserve Auction*

• A reserve auction means that the seller has the right to accept, reject or counter the highest bid if it does not meet their reserve price. Note that the minimum bid is not always equal to the reserve price.

*On our online real estate auction website, FRE.com, the most common auctions are reserve auctions with minimum bids.

If anything is still unclear about the minimum bids, my post about lower minimum bids in our Ft. Lauderdale Auction might help further explain this integral aspect of online auctions.

Coming Soon: Be on the lookout for our next post in this series: debunking the myth that online auctions are only for distressed homes.

As the LFC marketing team is busy preparing for our most extravagant online auction to date, I wanted to share some important details concerning our newest auction.  

The auction for this luxurious custom estate begins on January 22 and will be held entirely online at our residential real estate website, FRE.com. That is all I can say about this exquisite coastal mansion for now, but here is some info about the home’s spectacular location in southern California’s Dana Point.

The beach town of Dana Point is situated between Los Angeles and San Diego in south Orange County.  Encompassing less than seven square miles,  the small town of Dana Point has a well-deserved reputation for easy living, and is set against a romantic backdrop of rolling hills and coastal bluffs. Here a few highlights to check out before we can pass along more specific details next week:

• Newly opened walking trails and funicular at The Headlands
• The Festival of Whales
• The Dana Point Harbor and its several amenities such as:
  • Two marinas
  • The Ocean Institute
  • Dozens of restaurants
• Famous beaches and surf spots like Salt Creek and Doheny State Beach
• Dozens of public parks
• The award winning Dana Hills High School

Check back in with us for a new post about this property next week. We’ll also have a post up explaining the differences between reserve and absolute auctions.

Photo Credit: by buzzjackson

Photo Credit: by Tom Lowe @ Timescapes

I recently wrote a post about a few highlights surrounding the area of our condo auction in Newport Beach, California. Our company’s headquarter just so happens to be located in this famous Southern California city, so bear with us while we touch on why we love it here.

For starters, the condos are situated on the historic Newport Harbor, just off of the Pacific Coast Highway. The harbor is famous for its quaint Balboa Island community and the ferry that connects beach-goers to the Newport Peninsula. Once a year the City of Newport Beach hosts its annual Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade, hailed as “one of the top ten holiday happenings in the nation” by the New York Times.  There are also dozens of casual and luxurious restaurants scattered around the harbor’s rim, many of which specialize in fresh fish.

As you venture out through the mouth of the harbor towards the sea, beautiful sandy beaches span southward to Laguna Beach and northward to Huntington Beach. Newport’s beautiful beaches are routinely ranked amongst the cleanest in the country, and the picturesque coastline is home to world famous surfing spots such as the Wedge and the Balboa Piers. Aside from white sandy beaches and a bustling harbor, Newport Beach offers a variety of shops and stores offering some of the world’s finest couture and designer brands.

Only a few miles away, are the South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island shopping centers. Here you can find all of your department stores along with all of the world class designer brands you would expect to find in Orange County such as Burberry, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Coach, Ralph Lauren, Hermes, Christian Dior, and Chanel are just a start to a fabulous shopping spree.

While Winter is just kicking into gear in most parts of the country, Southern California remains wonderfully temperate. Take advantage of the gorgeous weather and come check out the luxury condos to see what “SoCal” coastal living is all about.

There is a broker preview tomorrow from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and an open house this Saturday from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

If you can’t make it out this weekend, not to worry.  The viewing schedule, property documentation and an array of photos are up on our online real estate auction website, FRE.com, for your convenience.

Photo Credit: dr14305 @ flickr.com

Photo Credit: cbirk_79 @ flickr.com

While taking on the responsibilities of social media for our company has become the highlight of my work, sometimes good old fashioned manual labor comes with the job of being the communications manager. I am also in charge of managing the majority of outdoor signage, and when we host auctions locally that means I get to do the advertisement installations myself.

I love working with my hands and being active, not to mention getting outside to enjoy the warm weather and California sunshine. On top of installing our company’s generic signs, the company founder and chairman is a huge advocate for any kind of guerrilla marketing we can implement into our auction advertising.

For example, I have had to go as far as putting up 40 directional signs for a single home during its open house and I have also designed advertisements for a truck to do some mobile marketing.

Some ideas work and others do not. But the beauty of Guerrilla marketing is that it’s cheap to do and does exactly what an advertisement is supposed to accomplish; to grab people’s attention.

Take a look at this ad I saw on http://billboardom.blogspot.com from a printer company in Paris, France Billboard for printer made with sheets of paper.

The City of Newport Beach is hosting its 101st Christmans Boat Parade this year and the parade does a u-turn right in front of the condos we are auctioning. We are allowed advertise on the seller’s yacht and I had a very interesting experience trying to get the signs up in a hurry.

Here are a couple of shots from the yacht ads but I want to know if you have done any crazy guerrilla advertising before!  Should we have gone for more festive colors or maybe even added Christmas lights instead of our traditional yellow and black combo?

*****

About this author: Casey Flynn is the Communications Manager for the LFC Group of Companies. He also coauthors on  CommercialAuctionListings.com and RealEstateNoteAuctions.com. You can follow his Twitter account @LFC_Auction.

We are happy to announce, in conjunction with Coldwell Banker, our latest Must Sell auction on FRE.com, two luxury condos in Newport Beach, CA. The auction has started and is currently accepting bids.

Being that Newport Beach is my home town, I am a little biased when I say this has been one of my favorite places I have ever lived. What is not to love about Southern California? These condos are only a few blocks from the Newport’s award-winning beaches and are situated right on Newport Harbor.

The first open house is scheduled for this Saturday, December 19th from 1:00PM to 4:00PM.  Both properties will be open for visitors to mosey through and get a taste of what these one and two bedroom condos have to offer. But you don’t have to wait to see the photos. Simply head over to FRE.com.

The Bid Deadline is February 4th, 2010 @ 5:00 PM PST and while you may not have all the time in the world, we have sped up the due diligence process by posting all available materials and photos online for you to download.

*****

About this author: Casey Flynn is the Communications Manager for the LFC Group of Companies. He also coauthors on CommercialAuctionListings.com and RealEstateNoteAuctions.com

In a year when many traditional real estate companies struggled to survive, the LFC Group of Companies grew stronger, relying on their agility and versatility to launch several new programs and proving that their robust online auction platform can sell anything and everything, from high-end residential estates, to retail/office condos, to industrial/commercial properties, to vacant land, to former ski resorts.

LFC began 2009 with the auspicious launch of its revolutionary mortgage note auction website, BigBidder.com. Utilizing the same proven auction platform and technology behind the company’s residential and commercial real estate websites (FRE.com and LFC.com, respectively), BigBidder.com became the first website ever to auction individual mortgage notes, opening up the historically exclusive secondary market for notes to investors of all types. While several note auction websites have emerged in recent months, none can match BigBidder.com’s transparency, simplicity and diverse inventory.

In addition to BigBidder.com, LFC launched several new auction programs designed to help sellers and lenders in today’s turbulent market. On FRE.com, the Must Sell^® program was unveiled to help high-end homeowners and brokers achieve successful quick sales at maximum value. Must Sell^® came at a crucial time, just as the tidal wave of mortgage defaults began to hit luxury homeowners, and has since expanded to include assisting mortgage servicers with pre-foreclosure sales of high-end homes.

Our Director of Sales, Shawn Miller, said, “We’re constantly developing innovative new programs that allow us to adapt and grow in even the most adverse of market conditions. We saw where the market was going, where the next foreclosure crisis was coming from, and with the Must Sell® program, we were able to get ahead of the wave.”

LFC also launched their Never Lose a Listing^® program for commercial real estate brokers who are struggling to gain traction on their listings in today’s oversaturated market. With Never Lose a Listing^®, LFC has invited brokers and agents to utilize the company’s proven online auction platform to bring broad exposure to their properties. The program marks a new era of collaboration and partnerships between LFC and the brokerage community, including such national companies as CB Richard Ellis and Grubb & Ellis.

Throughout the years, LFC has proved time and again that the company can excel in good times and bad. “We will never rest when it comes to innovation,” said LFC’s Chairman William Lange. “We pride ourselves on our ability to adapt to the ever-changing real estate landscape. We’ve emerged from 2009 stronger and more versatile than ever before, and we look forward to another exciting and successful year in 2010.”

*****

About this author: James Gerber is the Public Relations Specialist for the LFC Group of Companies. He hails from New York, New York and also coauthors on CommercialAuctionListings.com and RealEstateNoteAuctions.com

The LFC Marketing Team is excited to be hosting another MUST SELL® auction in our backyard!

While I can’t spoil all of the details before the auction campaign is underway, there are a few clues that I can share about these beautiful properties.

For starters, the auction for both of our new properties will begin on December 16th on FRE.com.    What’s more, each property has a second floor view of the Newport Beach Harbor in Orange County, California!

Located in the heart of southern California coastal living, there are dozens of great restaurants  and some of the West Coast’s most famous surfing within walking distance. Eateries like Blue Water Grille, the Cannery, 21 Oceanfront, Rudy’s Pub and Grill and TK Burger recently voted, “the best burgers in L.A. and the O.C.“,  are just a few to name.

Be sure to check back in with us when the auction starts on December 16th, at FRE.com. In the mean time, look out for our signs during the 101st Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade!

*****

About this author: Casey Flynn is the Communications Manager for the LFC Group of Companies. He also coauthors on CommercialAuctionListings.com and RealEstateNoteAuctions.com