Even auctions aren't a guaranteed sale. At least not when the minimum bid exceeds $1 million.

No qualified bidders showed up at either of two high-end auctions held Tuesday in the north Atlanta suburbs.

In Cherokee County, a house made of 1 million pounds of Indiana limestone didn't budge. And in Milton, in north Fulton County, 36 acres didn't fetch any takers.

At least one auctioneer speculated that even for the wealthy, some properties are too expensive. The Cherokee County estate home, in the Hawks Ridge development, required bidders to start at $2 million. The house has had an independent appraisal of $4 million, according to the auctioneer.

"Nobody showed up who was willing to make the minimum $2 million bid," said Carl Carter, a spokesman for Albert Burney Auction Co., of Gadsden, Ala. "That's not surprising, when you have a published minimum like that. We had a lot of people who looked at it. A lot of people called in about it. But when it came down to coming in, and putting their money down on it, they weren't there."

In Milton, the same thing happened. None of the bidders who attended the sale of the land offered the $1.5 million minimum to start the bidding, said John Marshall, a spokesman for National Auction Group, also in Gadsden.

The owner of that property, Marshall said in an e-mail message, has decided to negotiate with the bidders who attended. The last time the owner tried to sell the property, through a traditional agent within the past year, it was listed at $3.6 million, but didn't move. The land is approved for a buyer to build up to 23 homes on the property.

The owner of the Cherokee County house, who lives in another county, has decided to pursue a traditional sale through Burney, which has a real estate sales arm, Carter said.

"We'll go into real estate firm mode, and look for a buyer," Carter said. "With auctions, you generally get one bite at the apple."