Rhode Island Auction Brings No Deals For Potential Home Buyers

Providence Journal reports:

No deals were made at a real estate auction yesterday, but some of the properties might be sold if the gulf between buyers and sellers can be bridged within 48 hours.

Of the 24 properties offered at the sale, 15 did not attract any bids. And all the high bids for the rest of the properties were below the reserve prices set by the sellers, according to representatives of the auctioneers, Counts Realty & Auction Group of Lynchburg, Va.

The auction, held at the Atlantic Beach Club on Purgatory Road in Middletown yesterday morning, drew a crowd of 150 to 200 people, enough to fill the ballroom on the second floor of the waterfront hotel.

But there appeared to be few serious bidders, and even the most luxurious house offered at the auction — a contemporary colonial at 72 Harrison Ave. in Newport, a block from Newport Harbor — failed to attract a high enough bid to secure an immediate sale. The high bid for the property was $700,000. Reserve prices were confidential, but 72 Harrison Ave. was recently listed on the market for $1.25 million.

Danielle Ventura, 20, of Middletown, was the high bidder for a three-bedroom, two-bath ranch at 43 Viking Drive in Middletown. But her bid of $200,000 also did not match the reserve price. She said she was offered a price of $290,000, but she responded, “no way.”

Best of luck to the sellers.Obviously,market conditions changed.