Industrial-Flex Building

Business Challenge

The fund that owned this vacant, multi-unit, industrial/flex building had unsuccessfully been marketing this property for sale for several years with other brokers. The most recent list price the owner had set for the property prior to engaging the AW team was $975,000. While the property was in good condition and well located, it was surrounded by other, similar properties that were also for sale and/or for lease. In sum, there were too many competing, available properties in the area and this property did not stand out or offer anything superior to the others. As a result, it had been languishing on the market.

Solution

The AW team recommended the auction method of sale and a minimum bid/published reserve of $300,000. The goal of this pricing strategy was to set a minimum bid that was sufficiently low to attract and engage buyers who otherwise might purchase one of the many other available properties nearby. An online auction was scheduled for early January, roughly 60 days from the date the AW team listed the property.

Results

The AW team’s auction pricing and aggressive promotion of this property resulted in a pre-auction bidding war with five prospective buyers competing. Because several of these buyers were interested in closing on the property before the year end, the AW team recommended that the online auction dates be moved up to 30 days earlier than previously advertised. The seller agreed and the auction proceeded with multiple, qualified buyers competing online. The property sold through the online auction with a final bid price that was over $100,000 more than the highest pre- auction offer the AW team had procured. The winning bidder closed on the property 10 business days after the online auction concluded.