February 9, 2009
Auction Recap at the San Carlos Condominium in Gulf Shores
Do you think the full moon had anything to do with it?
Back in my former life, I had a guy that worked for me by the name of Bill Freeman. He also called himself the “Midnight Cowpoke” because he worked midnight to 6 AM at a country music radio station. Bill always told me that people would act different (sometimes even crazy) when there was a full moon. That may have been the pot calling the kettle black but we won’t go there.
Bill’s assessment of human behavior was the first thing I thought of when I saw the full moon on the night before the auction here in Gulf Shores at the San Carlos condominiums. It had all the potential to be a big auction. The auction company had spent a significant amount of money promoting the event for over a month. Real estate agents all over the island were calling clients to generate interest. It was a beautiful weekend with a high on Saturday of 70 degrees. They even had it catered with free chicken, soft drinks, wine and beer. The auction finally started at about 1:30PM – I’ve been to a few of these things and I have never seen one start on time.
They started the bidding on the five available penthouses. Those units sold from $360,000 to $480,000 in pretty short order. The next group of units were 3 bedroom 1568 sq. ft. corner units. The first winning bidder paid $370,000 and the selling prices went down from there until the last 3 bedroom corner unit sold for $315,000. Some quick math told me that the last unit would net the seller about $201 per square foot. I really thought that the seller would call the auction off at this point and I’ll tell you why.
I made a listing presentation to this seller in October of last year. They asked me what price I thought it would take to get the majority of the units sold within 6 months. I told them it would take some number between $200 and $225 per square foot. They assured me that they could not accept anything less than $275. Our conversation ended shortly after that.
Now it’s time to open the bidding for the 3 bedroom interior condos. The first one sold for $285,000. The next one sold for $275,000, then $260,000. Then the next one, after many attempts by the auctioneer to get higher bids, sold for $250,000 and that was the flashpoint. Bidders rushed the podium waving their paddles to get in on the $250,000 price but the seller stopped the auction at that point. I think they sold a total of five units at $250,000 which is $176 per square foot. Did I mention that it was a full moon?
The seller authorized the bidding to open again at which point they sold 10 more units at $275,000 and then several more at $285,000. There were a total of 53 units sold when I left at about 3:30PM.
It was a very interesting day at the auction in Gulf Shores. The Mobile newspaper said the attendance was 1,400 people with 269 bidders from 30 states. One of the television stations said the sales volume approached 20 million dollars.
If you would like further information on this auction or other Gulf Shores real estate, please feel free to give me a call at 251-978-7118 or contact me here.