Daily Press from Newport News, Virginia • Page 87

Daily Press, Sunday, May 11, 1986 F3 PUtUtC AUG HON lOailC AUCTION are soldi i nil I euauc auctkjw JLcT LP jdh I IS oil fast cash of auctions A back-roads practice gets on the expressway Zegart predicted auctions will become more frequent in real estate be. cause they allow developers to quickly unload remaining properties when most of a project is sold. "Instead of keeping your sales there trying to pound out those last remaining units they can go to the new project and begin marketing it. We can have a one-day sale to move the remaining units." LOS ANGELES (UPI) Beneath the chandeliers in the Beverly Wilshire hotel, auctioneer Hugh Miller began his banter, wheedling and whipping a crowd of 150 into a buying frame of mind. In less than an hour, the silver-tongued dandy from Kansas auctioned eight tony Wilshire Boulevard condominiums for more than $1.3 million.

Once confined to back-road tents and barns in rural America, auctions have evolved into a big business attracting corporate clients seeking to turn idle assets into quick cash. "The auction business is growing tremendously. The numbers of auctions are going up so rapidly that there are thousands every day. There isn't a business going today that can't use cash," said Miller, president of the National Association of Auctioneers, based in Overland Park, Kan. "Business is taking a harder look at auctioning because it produces results and result-oriented marketing is what everybody is looking for today," Miller said.

Auctioneers, who receive merchandise on consignment and glean commissions on sales, have come to know the ins and outs of They are aware, usually before it becomes common knowledge, which companies will be moving, which will expand and which will face bankruptcy. "There is a constant change in business operations and methods of manufacturing," Miller said. "As plants become obsolete to one company, they can be usable to another." Whether he is auctioning posh condominiums or unwanted industrial equipment, Miller said he finds similarities as he travels the country from auction to auction. "Sooner or later, it all comes down to the same old program. You have to exhaust the competitive bidding to extract the highest amount of money in the shortest amount of time possible," he said.

The Wilshire condominium auction netted 81 percent of the last retail asking price. Auctions traditionally net between 60 and 80 cents on dollar. "People are in a mode right now where they are looking for bargains. Auctions pretty much dictate that," said Joel Zegart, a partner in JBS Associates the Northbrook, 111., auctioneer that hired Miller to call the Wilshire Boulevard condominium auction. "If people are sitting on their assets, this is a time to get off them and buy something at a bargain price," said Zegart.

With two partners, Zegart formed JBS little more than a year ago and has moved about $7.5 million worth of real estate in four auctions so far. He said he is confident JBS will auction about $20 million worth of real estate in the remaining 8 auctions scheduled for 1986. The properties he auctions do not come from government foreclosures. Zegart said he specializes in "upper-end" property, mostly ritzy condominiums that have been slow to sell in today's flat market. "A lot of people confuse real estate auctions with distress properties," he said.

"We're very selective on the property we auction. The better the property, the better the auction and the better the results for the seller." JBS has auctioned luxury condominiums on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive and in a posh resort near the base of Mt. Hood in Portland, Ore. The hour-long Portland auction, Zegart said, sold 25 resort condominiums at an average price of $60,000. The units, part of a larger development, had been vacant for more than four years.

"It's the sense of urgency that brings people out. Chances are people have seen the property and they know this could be their last chance to buy it, Zegart said. "This is another tool in the marketing of real estate. A lot of these properties could have sold if they had proper marketing or were realistic in their prices. UPI photo Auctioneering is becoming big business, says Ross Dove, president of a California company that handles large auctions for corporate clients.

Down-sized homes may have big future Makes ecological sense, author says Next to Your Computer, Nothing Beats a SalePriced Jianav irraiter mflffniiiii iffiriTf'MiraiiiWiifimit-ifli. mutiny sions" outlines options for getting the maximum amount of usable space in an existing compact home and making small rooms seem bigger by manipulating colors, shapes and mirrors. "It is not a how-to-build book, it is a how-to-design book," says the author. "A small home is more amenable to flights of fancy' Letter-Perfect Text and Reports Our Lowest-Priced Daisy Wheel "Expediency is one of the big bene- fits of auctions. If they need to move, they can do it rapidly with an, auction- and still maximize their dollars," said auctioneer Ross Dove.

Dove, president the San Mateo, Ross-Dove soared to prominence in auctioneering circles by picking up the pieces of fallen Silicon Valley computer companies. His business has grown to include 20 i employees and will soon open offices in Los Angeles and along the Route 128 Corridor, suburban Boston's version of Silicon Valley. Dove, who said he spent more than $2 million on advertising in the past two years, touts his auctions in the Wall Street Journal and through an ex-'; haustive mailing list. The expenditures have paid Dove said his auctions have attracted i bidders who have spent more than $50 million on eving from lead-toed jogging shoes from a grounded California. rocket company to mainframe comput- ers from bankrupt high-tech start-ups.

Next month Dove will put an entire company on the blocks, includings its patents and proprietary Thpany, Montage Computer a i' West Concord, maker of video 1 editing equipment, entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation last month and needs the auction to pay creditors. Although some competitors say he brash, boisteriousa bit of a braggart, Dove said he is doing what his custom-j; ers want getting the best prices their assets. "The better you do, the better chance you have of getting hired back. -I'm not complaining." COMPUTER CENTERS AND PARTICIPATING STORES AND DEALERS $399 Save $200 Reg. 599.00 26-1278 PHILADELPHIA (UPI) People have learned to like compact cars, televisions, stereos and even compact disks, so it's only a matter of time before compact homes catch on, says a University of Pennsylvania professor of architecture.

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