RISMEDIA, June 30, 2008-In response to steady demand from clients, luxury brokerage firm SKY Sotheby’s International Realty has formed a separate company, Concierge Auctions, to expand and further develop its residential real estate auction platform.
Laura Brady, a longtime SKY Sotheby’s International Realty sales associate who has had an active role in all the company’s auctions to date, will serve as president of the new company.
Concierge Auctions consists of eight personnel and its office is located in downtown Sarasota at 1517 State Street, Suite 202. Moving forward, Concierge Auctions will plan and execute all auctions for SKY Sotheby’s International Realty, as well as auctions for other interested Sotheby’s International Realty affiliates.
“Since the launch of our auction platform last year, we’ve been pleased with the growth of this division, as sellers and third party brokers continue to express a desire to participate in our process,” says Chad Roffers, president, SKY Sotheby’s International Realty. “Our results to date, combined with sustained demand, made establishing this company a good business decision. I am confident that under Laura’s leadership, Concierge Auctions will meet continued success.”
SKY Sotheby’s International Realty added auctions to its service portfolio in early 2007. Its first auction was held May 2007, followed by auctions in November 2007 and April 2008. All three events benefited from multi-million dollar advertising campaigns that helped generate national and international exposure for the properties in the auction portfolios, as well as promote the overall local area.
“Our goal for this new company is to offer an accelerated marketing process that will obtain fair market value for properties within a determined timeframe, on a non-contingent basis, and unite buyers and sellers on an even level, with guaranteed transactions,” says Brady, president, Concierge Auctions.
Concierge Auctions, like SKY Sotheby’s International Realty, is predicated on providing innovative tools to its customers and continually improving its services and business models. As such, Concierge Auctions will be setting itself apart from other auction firms in the industry through high-end execution, global marketing and a new Guarantee Program for sellers.
“After holding three luxury auctions in Sarasota and facilitating four others for Sotheby’s affiliates in Florida, we’ve become knowledgeable about the sellers and properties that perform best in our auction platform,” says Brady. “We’ve found that properties auctioned without a reserve are the best way to aggregate substantial buyers and generate fair market value for a property. Therefore, our future auctions will feature properties without a reserve, as well as properties without a reserve that have a guaranteed minimum. Those with guaranteed minimums will be part of our new Guarantee Program, which eliminates the downside risk and guarantees transactions for motivated sellers and their agents.”
Roffers adds: “We believe that real estate auctions will continue to become a more mainstream process for connecting buyers and sellers, and I am confident Laura and her team will continue to hone our platform.”
According to the company, Concierge Auctions will host its next auction in August. Interested buyers may visit www.ConciergeAuctions.com to view the portfolio of properties as it is assembled and to register to bid. Other details will be announced in the coming weeks. The new Guarantee Program will launch at this event.
In addition to providing benefits to buyers and sellers, the auction process brings qualified traffic to participating agents and brokers through direct inquiry leads and open house attendance. Properties featured in prior portfolio auctions have seen an average of 50 groups through their open house tours. There was also steady activity on the auction website prior to each event. For example, three weeks prior to the spring 2008 auction, there were more than 18,500 visits to the auction website from 94 countries. Eighty-one percent of these Web visits were from unique or new users, and the greatest foreign activity was received from Canada, the UK, Germany, France, and Australia.
“As in the past, we will fully support brokers and work to educate them on both the client and agent benefits of participation in our auctions,” says Brady. “Both listing and selling agents will continue to receive a full, 3-percent commission on all auction transactions.”
Concierge Auctions will be inviting interested sellers, buyers and agents to join educational cocktail receptions at their offices at 1517 State Street, Suite 202, Wednesday, July 9 and Wednesday, July 16 from 6 – 8 p.m. to learn more about the upcoming auction.
For more information, visit www.ConciergeAuctions.com or call 888-966-4759.
