Last weekend I went to my first ever property auction.  It was for a tear down in Mar Vista located at 12568 Woodgreen.   There was a lot of excitement, build-up and nervousness (even though neither my client or I were bidding) and then it was over – in literally about a minute.

The property was listed on the mls for $399,000.00.  It’s a flat, corner lot totaling 6750 square feet.  The house is truly best described as a tear down, nothing redeeming aside from its location.

In e-mails exchanged with my client leading up to the auction date I had estimated the sale at $675,000.  My estimate was based on knowing the neighborhood and the comps for similar teardown properties.  My client challenged me and thought I was low and that the emotion of the situation would create frenzy – exactly the purpose of an auction.  I have to say that when I showed up at the house and saw droves of people and cars crowded onto the site I started doubting my reasoning.

In order to bid potential buyers had to show the auctioneer a five thousand dollar cashier’s check, to be used as a portion of the deposit.  I would guess at least 30 parties checked in and received bidding cards.

Before the bidding began the auctioneer went through a litany of disclosures detailing the poor condition of the property and extricating his company from any liability.  Once the bidding began it went as quickly as a downhill roller coaster.  In the blink of an eye the price was up around $600,000 and that’s when my heart started racing!  Remember, I wasn’t bidding nor was my client but the emotion of the situation was palpable.  At that point there were really only two bidders and it went back and forth for what seemed like a minute but was really seconds.  The final agreed upon price was $665,000.

And then everyone split.  Just like that.  Done.  Over.

This particular property is a probate and needs to be confirmed in court.  That means that someone can potentially overbid the highest auction bidder and walk out of court as the owner of the property.  The whole process is a microcosm of life in the real estate lane.  You never know what’s going to happen until the bitter end – and even then it changes.

Images by Lorin Ruttenberg.