At Real Estate Auction In Ft. Lauderdale, 67 Of 99 Properties Receive No Bids Of Any Kind

[hatrack]

FORT LAUDERDALE — The crowd filed in to the large white tent behind the Bahia Mar resort for Friday's real estate auction organized by Sotheby's and Daniel DeCaro Auctions as a four-piece jazz band played a peppy rendition of "I Feel Good." But as auctioneer Daniel DeCaro stood and watched from the back of the room, he shared a thought that would prove prophetic. "It's going to be a challenging day," DeCaro said.

Only a handful of the properties would be selling absolute, where any bid would be accepted. The rest carried a non-disclosed reserve, or minimum bid. "When there aren't many absolutes, it makes it hard to get things going," DeCaro said. "And this is a tough market."

The auction, which was anticipated to take four to five hours, wound up clocking in at barely two. Two-thirds of the property on the block failed to garner a single bid.

EDIT

The first property out of the gate was not a good omen: the auctioneer tried opening the bidding for 1850 South Treasure Drive in Miami Beach, a waterfront lot, at $1 million. There was no response. He then tried to get something started at $500,000, but again, no dice. $250,000? Still dead air. $100,000? Silence. At that point, DeCaro threw in the towel and passed the property by. "Please come see us afterwards," he told the crowd, adding that staff from DeCaro and Sotheby's would be around after the event to field offers and potentially facilitate further negotiations.

EDIT

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080329/REALESTATE/803290640/1537/BUSINESS

[livetohike]

1. Just returned from camping in the Florida panhandle

I have never seen anything like this - real estate signs up on about every other property we passed!
Many "bank owned" signs. We talked to a state forest worker who said it has been like that for over a year.

We lived in CA for 14 years and saw the beginning of the bad real estate times in 1992 - but this mess in FL is amazing.

[lovuian]

4. could it be the word is out about rising sea levels?

thats another reason

Its a heart breaker thats for sure

[livetohike]

5. Well, they are losing/lost much of their coast line there

due to the hurricanes......The last hurricane took out the road that rides the coast for a 20+ mile section.

[tsuki]

10. And yet the word is out. Deny. Deny. Deny.

Things will pick up in the spring. (Did not happen.) Things will pick up in '09. (??)

To me, it is like it was in the 1980's or worse.

[notadmblnd]

2. Bu.. Bu.. ..Bu.. But... I thought the rich were going to keep the economy going?

[Faygo Kid]

3. Sad. Used to live there. The boom went bust.

The real estate market in Ft. Lauderdale went absolutely bonkers a few years ago, even more than most places. Lots of people have lost their equity, fer sure.

[OmahaBlueDog]

7. Heres my story

In 2003, I bought a 4/2 with a 2 car garage & pool for 202500 in Sunrise (outside Ft. Lauderdale)

I could have sold for 400000 at the peak of the boom in 2005.

In 2006, when others in my neighborhood were getting no bites on virtually identical homes, I slashed my price to 359000, and sold for 340000. People felt bad for me. I looked at them like they were nuts -- I made just short of 140000 in 3 years!

I moved to Omaha, Nebraska. I bought a 4/2.5 with a 3 car garage and a 1/2 basement for 165000. Yes, I traded sun, fun, and no state income taxes. My auto insurance here is half what it was in Florida, and my homeowners dropped from 4500 to 750 a year.

...and I've got to tell you -- the people here are great (even if they are a little too far right, politically).

[Faygo Kid]

9. Good for you. Sounds like the right move.

I'm a Midwesterner, too (Michigan), and didn't like south Florida at all. No seasons, flat and the Everglades on one side, the ocean on the other, and only concrete in between. Plus, it wasn't my cultural cup of tea. I live in Maryland now, and hope to retire to northern Michigan, which I love, in about five years. The housing market is down here in the DC area, but not so bad as elsewhere, so homes are holding their values. So long as the government is here, this area has stability.

Never been to Omaha, but sounds like more my speed than Ft. Lauderdale. Being from Michigan, I need to have water nearby, though. I assume you became a Cornhusker fan; I think you aren't allowed to live in Nebraska unless you do.

[OmahaBlueDog]

14. My fan status is "Don't ask/Don't tell"

I grew up in New Carrolton and Columbia, and my wife is from Silver Spring. Omaha is a lot more like what we grew up with, but with more of a western and midwestern flair. In fact, there are sections of Omaha that remind me a lot of Montgomery County (maybe its just me).

You'd think the red flag with the white "N" was the state flag (hint: it isn't). I'm torn, because I'm a UC Berkeley grad, and we don't do red & white (Stanford's colors).

[Faygo Kid]

16. Silver Spring here, too.

That's where we live, too. Forest Glen neighborhood. Silver Spring's downtown has really come back. Our favorite restaurant is in Silver Spring, too - Sergio's, a family owned Italian restaurant in the Hilton. Ever been there?

Anyway, my best to your wife, and I understand that colors thing. As a Michigan State grad, I don't do maize and blue.

[MidwestTransplant]

6. I don't understand how FL can be leaning Republican.

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. They love Charlie Crist

... and they're pissed about the delegate thing.

[tsuki]

12. Have you the median age here? It is somewhere between John

McCain and Methuselah.

[kestrel91316]

11. Floridians appear to have seen the "Inconvenient Truth" about

beachfront real estate, and they DON'T want to be left holding the bag. I can't blame them.

One can only hope this STOPS beachfront "development" cold.

[David__77]

13. These "auctions" are a joke where I live.

They have reserve prices meaning that you won't get a better deal than the bank is prepared to accept, which isn't very good. It's more a marketing mechanism than anything else.

[OmahaBlueDog]

15. That sounds about right.

That said, 4 br homes in my old neighborhhod that were selling for 400000 in 2005 are now asking (not necessarily getting) 300000 and less.

[David__77]

17. In Sacramento, Ca prices have tumbled.

Thankfully. Otherwise people entering the job market etc. would be fleeing in droves. My old condo was bought for 160 k in 2002, shot up to 285 k in 2005, and is now lower than it was in 2002.

[opihimoimoi]

18. Honolulu is seeing an increase in foreclosures...yesterdays news here

Prices have declined dramatically....

The Bush dudes still think they can bandaid it...nevah happen...

NEVER TRUST THE GOP.....they will fuck it up everytime....Do we not Learn after all these years...look at their record, their LOSING SEASONS if I may...

Years ago, I used post threads on DU about Florida needing Dikes soon....sho nuff....its a coming...

An dikes won't help for shit...

Thanx Bush/GOP, heckofajob....

[trof]

19. 4 pages of foreclosure legal notices in local paper today.

Many are against builders who bought blocks of lots in new subdivisions.

A nearby planned upscale subdivision of 350 garden homes sits vacant.
The property has changed hands 3 times in the last 4 years due to bankruptcies.
Streets are roughed in (not paved yet), utilities are in to each lot.
I pass it almost every day and there's been no activity for the last year.

[dixiegrrrrl]

20. a good place to get the housing picture anywhere & everywhere

is craigslist.org.
you can pick a state and/or a city, look under real estate for sale,
look houses up by price ranges, areas,dates offered etc.
When the listed houses for sale in SF Bay area Ca. started running more than 4 pages on Craigslist, 2005, we knew it was time to move.
Moved back to Ala. and got twice as much house and land for 1/4 of West coast prices.
And now I check the Ca. and Fla. and other state prices weekly, as well as the job offers on the site, and get a crystal clear picture of the real economy.
It is not good.

Great site, tho, is craigslist.