Since the Oregonian links links have a habit of dying and the article is short, in it entirety here:
Second Buena Vista house auction a more moderate success
Posted by Anne Saker, The Oregonian March 08, 2008 15:48PM
The first auction of his empire went so well that Roger Pollock put on another one today, selling 47 of his Buena Vista Custom homes and lots in the suburbs for more than $10 million.To the sounds of Stevie Wonder and James Brown, about 450 bidders and onlookers packed the hall at the Ambridge Event Center, near the Rose Garden. As potential buyers arrived ahead of the 10 a.m. event, Pollock smoked a cigarette outside.
“This is a matter of taking your lumps,” he said. “Then, when things get better, I’ll be the only builder in town without huge bank notes.”
Pollock’s Lake Oswego company overbuilt during the real-estate boom across the region’s suburbs. Overextended when the current downturn arrived, Pollock took the unusual course of bringing in a real-estate auction house to clear his inventory.
In December, a two-day auction sold 141 houses for about $65 million, and Pollock said sales on about 120 of those houses have closed.
Saturday, the auction was smaller with fewer houses on the block and fewer bidders. The auction sold 36 of 42 houses and 11 of 18 unbuilt lots, mainly in Happy Valley but also in Sandy, Scappoose, Hillsboro and Beaverton.
— Anne Saker; annesaker@news.oregonian.com
I was talking to our Australian neighbor a little while back and he said that their home selling system is totally different. The house is advertised, held open and sold right then and there by auction. You might not get what you wanted out of the sale but then on the other-hand, days on market isn’t an issue.
5 Comments on “Second Buena Vista Second Auction”
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Love the idea of getting a chunk of inventory off the market relatively quickly.
Whoa, did you notice the drop in the average selling price?
December 2007: $65M/141 = $461k on average
March 2008: $10M/47 = $213k on average
Yes, I know that some of the March 2008 sales were unimproved lots. Even if the lots were free, then $10M/36 = 278k.
The average selling price is about 50% of the December 2007 sales, and the total March 2008 revenue is about 15% of the total December 2007 auction revenue.
It makes me wonder what the quality differences in the homes auction this time around versus the December homes is. If they are similar homes, why is the selling price so low this time. Also I take the selling of the vacant land as a bad indicator for Buena Vista’s future.
I wonder, when is auction round three?
JP, the average size of the houses sold in the second auction were smaller than the the first auction. Add in the vacant land sales and you get the lower prices.
But just like the first auction, I wonder how many of these will close. If I remember correctly, 20 to 30% didn’t close after the first auction.
kevbo-
“Even if the lots were free, then $10M/36 = 278k.”
Were the homes that much smaller? (Maximum average value is $278k, and that assumes the lots were sold for $1 each.)
And didn’t the first auction contain 800 square foot condos in Camas?!?! Wonder what those went for?