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Thursday, November 16, 2006
Another unsatisfied auction customer
In another report from a disgruntled seller whose auction failed, Tom Minnehan of Tequesta relates this experience:
I read the article on selling homes by auction with great interest. I tried to sell my home in Tequesta Pines on Sept. 23 by auction. It was a fiasco.
The same local auctioneer quoted in the article convinced me that selling a home by auction was “the wave of the future” — as she stated in The Post’s article. My share of the advertising budget was $3,500 (there were three other properties being auctioned that day). For my share, all I saw was a color brochure that she mailed out. I was promised that there would be a media blitz to stir up interested buyers.
She put one little ad in The Post that was lost under “Auctions” instead of under “Homes for Sale.” On the day of the auction, I had about 20 people in my living room; two were bidders. The others were local real-estate agents trying to learn how an auction works. I was very embarrassed in my own home about the entire proceedings.
My home was listed for $450,000, and the advertised opening bid was $275,000. The closing bid was $281,000. It was a reserve auction, so I was able to turn down the bid, but I feel that the whole process was very unprofessional, with no positive results. I wrote the president of Illustrated Properties about my concerns on Sept. 25, more than six weeks ago, and he has yet to respond. I guess being a small fish in a large pond doesn’t warrant his response.
I feel that there should be some kind of refund of my original deposit of $3,500 for the poor performance of this company. Needless to say, I would not recommend to anyone trying to sell a home by auction. As a final note, despite the excellent and professional efforts of my realtor with Illustrated Properties, my home still has not sold.
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