The 19 remaining condos at Brazos Place will be auctioned on May 17, the first auction of a downtown property that I have seen in Austin. It should be an interesting, educational and – I would guess – very well attended event.

Is this auction of properties located at Brazos St. and 8th St. a death knell for the downtown condo market? Or merely an innovative way to move properties in a slow market?

Success or failure depends on attracting bidders, according to research on auctions. The newspaper advertisement announcing the auction said prices would start at $80,000 – far below anything reported in the MLS system lately.

If enough good bidders show up, then higher prices may result than from the normal market mechanism. If the auction brings together many who are interested in newly remodeled downtown condos, and effectively pits buyer against buyer – then maybe this is really an effective marketing campaign.

Since my office at RE/MAX Downtown Austin is one block away you can bet I’ll attend!

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 2:12 pm and is filed under Austin Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.