The Real Estate Deal

Editor Cindy Zetts dishes on real-estate and development around Puget Sound: She lived in apartments, townhomes and houses -- a dozen of them in four states -- before settling in the Seattle area in 1997. After taking a bath on the sale of her first home, in South Florida, she vowed to wise up about real estate. She bought a house in Covington 10 years ago because, well, she could afford one there.

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May 30, 2008 12:09 PM

Real-estate sales: a reverse auction

Posted by Cindy Zetts

Like many area homeowners, Justin Wilcox of Bothell wants to sell his home. Last night I saw this story on the KING 5 news: Wilcox hopes to distinguish his home and get a fair price by using a reverse auction.

A typical reverse auction is a business strategy in which sellers compete to get business from a buyer. The idea is to bring the buyer the lowest price for goods or services from suppliers (sellers).

In Wilcox's case, he's the only seller competing for a buyer. The concept works the same way -- driving down the price of the house -- but Wilcox is behaving more like a buyer. It's just another way of negotiating price.

Wilcox opened "bidding" today at $499,900 and says he'll lower the price $10,000 a week until he gets a buyer for his four-bedroom home. His Web site provides more information. He has a bottom price, but he's (wisely) keeping it to himself.

I'll let you know how it all turns out.

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