Launched in the San Diego market in October, Private Auction Properties is an online marketing platform designed to modernize the way real estate is bought and sold.The auction concept is centuries old — having been recorded as early as 500 B.C. One of the most significant historical real estate auctions occurred in the year 193 A.D. when the Praetorian Guard, after killing emperor Pertinax, put the entire Roman Empire on the auction block. Didius Jalianus outbid everyone else and purchased the Empire for the price of 6,250 drachmas per Guard (approximately $25.63 per Guard at current US conversation rates).From Empires to everyday trinkets, auctions — both live and online — have become a part of our consumer culture and a part of our everyday lives.
Private Auction Properties is combining the excitement and spirit of the competitive bidding environment with the convenience and accessibility of the Internet to create a unique way to buy and sell real estate.
“Real estate auctions are not new. In fact, in some countries like Australia, real estate is mostly bought and sold through an auction process,” said Robert Dyson, president of Private Auction Properties. “At Private Auction Properties we have taken the real estate auction concept and modified it to offer the best of the process to buyers, sellers and their individual real estate agents.”
For the real estate buyer, Private Auction Properties offers a selection of properties from motivated sellers who have not only aggressively priced their properties, but many also include incentives for either the buyer or the buyer’s agent.
In addition, escrow has already been opened on most properties so that all due diligence documents are directly accessible for the buyer and their agent to review before making a bid.
For the real estate seller, Private Auction Properties offers a unique online marketing platform for sellers and their agents to expose a property to serious, pre-qualified buyers with a defined deadline.
“Through our auction process, we are making some major adjustments to the way real estate can be bought and sold,” said Dyson. “While requiring buyers to be pre-qualified before they place a bid on a property just makes sense for all parties involved, pre-opening escrow is a completely “out-of-the-box” concept that is catching on with not only our buyers and sellers, but with our service providers too.”
“The process of pre-opening escrow is not an industry standard — yet. At Private Auction Properties, we work with preferred Title, Escrow, Mortgage and other service providers who understand the importance of pre-opening escrow. By pre-opening escrow, our providers accumulate all necessary documents available, furnish various services and information in advance of any sale, and prepare the seller and the buyer for the close if escrow in advance,” said Dyson.
In addition to service providers, the real estate industry is starting to reap the benefits of the Private Auction Properties auction process.
“I posted two properties with Private Auction Properties that I had in the Multiple Listing Service for many months with no offers. When I posted these properties to the Private Auction Properties website, we received our first bids within days. One of the properties is now in escrow and the other has received much better traffic flow than we’ve ever experienced,” said Gary Giffin of Middleton and Associates, La Jolla.
Private Auction Properties is also re-envisioning the way bids (offers) are communicated between buyers and sellers.
The company is building a proprietary system that integrates the traditional methods of presenting and countering and offer between buyer and seller with the progressive and interactive nature of online communications.
“What we are building is truly exciting,” said Dyson, who boasts nearly 40 years in the real estate industry. “It is simplistic for the buyer and seller, yet provides all the safeguards and transparency that real estate professionals and the industry demand.”
For more information on Private Auction Properties, please visit www.PrivateAuctionProperties.com or contact them at (760) 804-8080.
