When Bid4Assets was created in 1999, it was the first sales platform for government property on the Internet. The site describes itself as “the online auction marketplace for high-value assets like real estate, jewelry and rare collectibles.” But, after a while, it became obvious that buyers and sellers dealing with online real property transactions required some specialized resources and services that weren’t important to those purchasing personal property. To answer this demand, Bid4Homes was born.
Bid4Homes is an online real estate auction site offering bank-owned (REO) properties, government-forfeited properties and some properties offered by private sellers for auction. Approximately 1,500 new properties are listed on the site in an average month, varying depending on season. Bid4Homes has also partnered with RealtyTrac to offer access to thousands more properties, though buyers may need to contact the sellers directly for these properties.
The Bid4Homes home page
This new real-estate-only site was fully launched in June of this year, though it received a soft launch in February. Bid4Homes will offer a number of functions and services that are not available through the original Bid4Assets site.
“There are a lot of specialized services that go along with buying real property, so we thought it made sense to have a site that focuses just on the needs of the real estate buyer and seller,” Lisa Lauroesch, vice president of business development for Bid4Homes, said. “One of the examples of a function that’s important to a real estate buyer [but not a personal property buyer] is being able to search for properties in particular location....We also have a robust resource center that has access to information on sites like Zillow and RealtyTrac and allows us to integrate listings from RealtyTrac onto our site.”
The site is working on implementing a new sales and marketing process called the 3in1 Listing Program. This process is intended to streamline the selling process and increase the likelihood of reaching a deal that will make both the buyer and the seller happy. As its name implies, it incorporates three distinct stages.
First, during the initial 30 days that the property is on the market, it is listed in an online auction, because “an auction is fastest way to get property onto the market,” according to Lauroesch. If the property fails to receive an adequate bid, then it moves into stage two: a listing in the MLS. During this stage, Bid4Homes continues showcasing the property and handles incoming offers on the real estate agent’s behalf. If, after 60 to 90 days, the property still hasn’t sold, then in stage three it enters another online auction that incorporates market and value information acquired during the previous two stages.
The basic principle behind the 3in1 system is that the more exposure a property gets, the more likely it is to sell at a decent price. Online auctions are ideal for getting the widespread exposure that is necessary to get a property sold, according to Lauroesch.
“Having the auction first, you can get the property up on the website very quickly and host the auction, and generate a lot more exposure on the property than you might be able to otherwise with a traditional sale,” she said. “So, rather than what people have done in the past—where they typically will list the property with an agent, and then if it doesn’t sell give it to a ballroom auctioneer—it seemed like there was a place now with technology to bring a property to market very quickly and test the price in a very short amount of time.”
The 3in1 Listing Program is being tested out on some of Bid4Homes’ newer listings and, if everything works as intended, Lauroesch said the site intends have the program fully available by fall of this year.
