Expert: Jessica Bryan - 5/24/2008

Question
Jessica,

Thanks for taking my question.  My wife and her brother inherited their parents home (both passed away about 1 1/2 years ago) and they are just now getting to the point of seriously trying to sell the property.  They had a couple of family friends express interest but not unexpectedly all fell through.  Now, as amazing as this is to me, her brother is insistent upon using an Autioneer to try to sell the remaining contents of the home (which to me is a waste of time given that the autioneer can't do it until mid-late July) AND the home itself!  I looked at the site the autioneer suggested viewing (autionzip.com) and homes in their area were being listed for $35k!  The FMV is at least $100k plus.  Now am I just being silly here or should they stop whining about paying out 5-7% to a good realestate agent and forget the aution garbage?  I've NEVER seen an aution that grabbed anything close to the asking value OR the FMV.  Any other suggestions?  Tks!

Answer
Dear Harrison;
If the market area in which this home is located is not a depressed market area, I see no reason to go to auction.  Why don't they try listing the home at close to market value for a quick sale and see what happens.  If they don't get any offers, then they can always fall back on the auction idea later.  I don't quite understand why they would want to "give" profits away if they can get so much more for the house.  It is at least worth trying since they aren't being inconvenienced by selling the house in the traditional manner. As for paying commissions...well, they can negotiate the commission but they also have to appreciate the fact that the agent will spend money marketing the home and do quite a bit of work to earn the fee.  They can ask for a proposal from the agent as to what will be done for the fee and if they are satisfied, they will not begrudge the charges. It is certainly better than having to do everything themselves!

Best wishes,
Jessica Bryan