Orlando Real Estate News

NEW SMYRNA BEACH - When the peak of the real-estate boom happened, upscale condominiums in the Venetian Bay development could have fetched more than $300,000 apiece, with their large master suites, granite countertops and balcony views of the village lake.

The current housing market has left them sitting empty for more than a year, prompting the builder to try a quicker sales route: the auction block.

More than 30 condos and town homes will be auctioned off Saturday, with almost 1,000 potential bidders attending the event in person and via the Internet.

While auctions have become commonplace as the fast way for banks to unload hundreds of foreclosed homes, Saturday's event, and similar ones cropping up along the Florida coast, are trying to attract buyers for higher-end properties that are newly built, luxury models with a waterfront view.

Auctions of pricey real estate have succeeded in making sales for properties that had languished for many months.

"A lot of consumers are sitting on the sideline because they're just waiting for prices to continue to decline," said Roger Soderstrom, founder and owner of Stirling Sotheby's International Realty, which represents Venetian Bay. "What we're seeing in the auction process is that it's drawing out more buyers than the traditional sale process."

Auctions made up $11 billion in residential sales in 2003, which climbed to $17 billion last year, said Chris Longly, deputy executive director of the National Auctioneers Association.

Several auctions throughout Florida in the past year indicate that buyers are out there, said several auctioneers who specialized in high-end real estate.

• Auctions in February ended with the sale of two million-dollar waterfront mansions in Ponte Vedra Beach, for $1.1 million and $2.5 million.
• A Windermere mansion sold at auction in May for $1.1 million.
• A July auction sold two St. Augustine Beach oceanfront parcels for less than $1 million apiece.
• In Celebration, 27 luxury condos were sold for more than $6 million combined in August.
• In Ponte Vedra Beach, near Jacksonville, 23 condominiums sold for a total of $2.4 million last week.

"Before, these properties could sell themselves, with offers coming left and right, but today you have to reach out to find the buyers," said Craig King, president and CEO of J.P. King Auctions, which will offer oceanview properties in St. Simons Island, Ga., on Saturday. "An auction with good marketing will give these properties the exposure they need."

In New Smyrna Beach, about 42 Venetian Bay properties were going to be auctioned, but prospective bidders jumped at the opportunity and about eight condos should be sold before the bidding even begins, said Lori Chipps of Worldwide Auction Realty Services, which will run Saturday's event.

Meanwhile, more than 500 individuals and groups have toured the properties and hundreds more have picked up the online brochure, including prospective buyers from the United Kingdom, Canada and Dubai, Soderstrom said.

Florida has long been the leading state for international buyers of residential real estate, commanding 23 percent of all such sales nationwide. During the credit crunch, when few mortgages and loans were being issued, that pace slacked off, said Walt Molony, spokesman for the National Association of Realtors.

Recent auctions, including the one in Celebration, have seen international buyers coming back. The bidders vying for the New Smyrna condos also hail from the Northeast and Midwest, Soderstrom said.

"The bulk of our buyers are from outside Florida, and they perceive Florida to be a great value," he said.

With some auctions starting at half the retail price, or with no minimum bid, buyers have found good prices, said Laura Brady, co-founder of Concierge Auctions in West Palm Beach, which has handled a number of oceanfront estate auctions in Florida and Hawaii.

"It's a transparent process in valuing the property," Brady said. "With the current market, it's hard to gauge what a property is worth, but an auction can bring a fair price that gives sellers relief they can close out their inventory and gives buyers a good value."

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