Office/Medical Building

This approximately 13,578 sf multi-tenant, stand alone, single-story, brick building on 1.32 acres had been listed for sale on the traditional market for over a year with an asking price of $850,000. While approximately 3,473 sf (one of the three units) was leased, the lease was on a month to month basis and the tenant had the right to terminate the lease upon the sale of the building.

The traditional for sale listing with prior brokers for this property had generated little to no interest with an asking price of $850,000, so the owner authorized a $100,000 price cut. Even with an asking price of $750,000, the building continued to garner very little interest and only a few showings. It was on the market three times as a traditional listing – once in 2007, once in 2009, and then again for 6 months in 2014. After receiving an offer of $300,000 for the building and countering that offer with $350,000, the owner ultimately engaged AW to sell the property in an online auction.

The AW team recommended and the owner approved a minimum bid/published reserve price of $425,000, in order to generate maximum interest in the building. When creating the brochure and adding photos to all of its listings for the property, the AW team improved upon the previous broker’s marketing efforts which had primarily shown the small portion of the building that was in raw condition. By comparison, the AW team included many more interior photos highlighting the majority of the space which was finished and in excellent, move-in ready condition. The AW team also put together an extensive due diligence package. Finally, the AW team featured the property in multiple advertisements and PR efforts, and extensively target marketed the property to brokers and investors in the AW proprietary database, including brokers active in the area and surrounding areas of the property.

The AW team’s extensive target marketing not only generated more showings than the property had previously enjoyed, but identified three qualified, serious bidders. After all of the advertising for the property had run, and approximately 3 weeks before the online auction was scheduled to begin, the AW team advised the owner to allow AW to call for all best and final bids. The owner concurred and the AW team was able to ignite a pre-auction bidding war. This bidding war resulted in several offers and counter offers between two of the three serious bidders, with both bidders being unaware of the number of other bids being placed or the amount of other bids being placed. This ultimately resulted in a high bid and sale of the property for $700,000, with the second bidder requesting that their $614,250 bid be held as a backup bid. The sale of the property closed within two weeks, prior to the commencement of the online auction, with a sale price 165% greater than the minimum bid set for the auction and 233% greater than the most recent offer for the property.