Getting a luxury home for half-price is quite the bargain, particularly if you're talking about a $2 million price cut.

The potential for deals like that are drawing people with money to real estate auctions. Drawing them not to the courthouse steps, mind you, but to custom-built estates and unspoiled acreage in desirable suburbs.

Frank Niemeir/AJC (ENLARGE)

The kitchen in the house in Ball Ground to be auctioned Tuesday, with a starting bid of $2 million.

Frank Niemeir/AJC (ENLARGE)

This mansion, shown last Thursday, was appraised at $4 million and will be sold at auction today with bids starting at $2 million.

• More photos of the home and land TUESDAY'S AUCTIONS Milton land • 36 acres in Milton, wooded and surrounding a lake. • Permitted for 23 homesites, of plus or minus one-acre. • Offered in two tracts of roughly the same acreage; or as one site. • For more information on the property, click here. Cherokee estate home • Exterior made of more than 1 million pounds limestone. • Heated floors in six rooms, including kitchen. • A two-story study has distressed pine walls and limestone fireplace. • For more information on the home, click here. Sources: Auctioneer information THE ECONOMY Latest Headlines: Visa survey shows foreign travel remains popular  Insurance tests raise questions about some pickups  WTO powers cite some progress in marathon meeting  Ship-barge crash closes Mississippi at New Orleans  Ship-barge crash closes Mississippi at New Orleans  • More Business news • More market coverage • Foreclosure news, tips • Search pending foreclosures • Find metro gas prices • 31 ways to save Markets » Stock Last Change DOW 11,632.38 29.88 NASDAQ 2,325.88 21.92 S&P 500 1,282.19 5.19 Jul 24, 2008 1:46:51 AM ET 20 min. delayed Powered by Stockgroup Get quote:     Symbol Look Up View Your Portfolio

High-end auctions have become more common in affluent areas of Atlanta, where owners aren't necessarily financially strapped, but want an option that can unload properties quickly. A live auction creates an atmosphere, proponents say, where buyers looking for deals can find unusual properties, and sellers can be guaranteed a quick sale.

There are two examples Tuesday: At 11 a.m., a 1.7-acre estate home in Cherokee County, built of Indiana limestone, will be sold at auction. Its amenities include a bathroom with a 28-foot domed ceiling, heated floors and a seven-car garage. The minimum bid is $2 million. It has had an independent appraisal of $4 million, the auctioneer states.

Two hours later, a developer will auction 36 acres in north Fulton County approved for 23 home sites. The minimum bid is $1.5 million, about what the owner said he paid three years ago. The last asking price, when the property was offered through a conventional real estate sale, was $3.6 million.

In both cases, the property owners have set a minimum bid, preventing a bottomless sale. In "absolute" auctions, sellers offer their properties for the highest bid, whatever it may be. Regardless of the format, even before the economy started sliding, real estate auctions were becoming more prevalent, said Chris Longly, a spokesman for the National Auctioneers Association.

Real estate is the fastest-growing segment in auctions, said Longly, whose association represents 6,000 auctioneers.

According to Longly, the value of residential real estate auctions climbed 5 percent in 2007 to $16.9 billion. Land and agricultural real estate, including land to be developed for housing, grew 2 percent to $25.9 billion.

Auctions require more aggressive marketing, he said, including national advertising. Auctions can work better for properties that have unusual features, or are difficult to appraise, he said.

Benefits include a guaranteed sale, at a price that a market of bidders has determined is the true value of a property. Negatives could include the flip side of that — the possibility that few bidders show up.

For that reason, auctioneers promote the sales as events, said William Bone, president of National Auction Group, in Gadsden, Ala., who is conducting the auction in Milton. Up until bidding starts, owners usually can cancel the auctions.

National specializes in what Bone terms "trophy homes" and other high-end properties.

The 36 acres in affluent Milton may appeal to an investor who can hold the land until the market for new homes rebounds, he said. "It's a beautiful place that somebody could enjoy until the prices come back," Bone said. "Atlanta's not going to quit growing. This is just a lull in the market."

Known as Valley Lake Estates, the land is owned by a development company, whose owner purchased the land in 2005. Originally intended for resale to builders, the property is now an asset with continuing holding costs, said owner Steve Williams. He hired an auctioneer after the property languished for six months with a real estate agent. His loan is current, Williams said, but he wants a sale.

"I'm looking down the road," he said. "I'm carrying a lot of inventory. I want to handle it now."

For similar reasons, the owner of the estate home in the Hawks Ridge development, in Cherokee County, turned to an auctioneer.

The owner lives in Alpharetta, and bought the property from a friend when the house was under construction, said Carl Carter, a spokesman for Albert Burney Auction Co., in Gadsden, Ala., which is handling the sale.

The current owner purchased the property for $1.9 million in July 2005, according to county sales records. He now wants to shed the carrying costs, Carter said, including maintenance, taxes and utility payments. In 2007, when the property had an assessed value of $2.2 million, the owner paid $23,024 in property taxes, according to the county's Web site.

An auction allows the owner to sell the property on his schedule, Carter said.

"If you look at the cost of owning this home, and not using it," Carter said, "just waiting on that proverbial 'right buyer,' he feels he'll do better just to sell it, and take his lumps if he has to, but hopefully not."

— News researcher Sharon Gaus contributed to this article.