Absentee Owner Succeeds With Real Estate Auction – Middle Tennessee 

Last fall we received a call from one of our RE/MAX alliances concerning a property in Manchester, TN.  This gentleman was an absentee owner who had moved out of the home two years ago and had let his son live in the home during that time. 

They had attempted to sell the property themselves for over a year with very few showings and no offers.  Two years later, the property had to go so that he could be relieved of the mortgage and clear other debts. 

More than 1 auctioneer had evaluated the property and we were all in a similar price range.  After viewing our specifically tailored marketing campaign and expertise, we became his chosen auction company. 

Little did he know that unfortunately his son had not been maintaining the property.  There was mold on the sheetrock and trim in the basement, huge water stains on the ceiling, the grass was nearly two feet tall, and the whole place smelled like a wet dog.  Not to mention that some hoarding tendencies were evident throughout the home.  There was a lot to do before auction day! 

This absentee owner made one trip to Tennessee from his home in Florida to evaluate what needed to be done in order to effectively market his property.  We were able to coordinate for him all of the local professionals to ready the home from repair men, to mowers and cleaners to name a few. 

Due to our marketing efforts there were a crowd of 30 or more people on auction day, with approximately 15 registered bidders.  We had an opening bid of $35,000 on this split-level home with 4 acres.  In about 7 minutes the hammer dropped and we announced the property sold for $107,800!  The buyer closed in less than two weeks and we were able to ship the closing documents and proceeds to the absentee owner. 

The absentee owner was not available to attend on auction day, and when I called to share with him what the property had sold for, his response was, “Unbelievable…. You guys are masters!”