"We have been looking at doing an IPO," says Steve Good, CEO of Sheldon Good. "We have been growing rapidly and are looking at expanding internationally. Also, we think that taking our auctions to the Internet might be a good idea, but that will take a substantial investment in technology."

Mr. Good said that revenues have been growing at a compound rate of 25% a year for the last 10 years, while another company official said that Sheldon Good has auctioned over $8 billion worth of real estate over the last two decades.

Sheldon Good is also in the midst of conducting the largest ever auction of residential property, a $30 million auction of bankrupt developer United Homes properties in Illinois, Michigan and Arizona. "It's my understanding that this is the largest bankruptcy auction of residential property ever conducted in the U.S.," says Good. Sheldon Good will auction 97 Illinois properties, auction 151 Michigan properties and 75 properties in Arizona. Good said his firm's fees from the auction should total between $1 million and $1.2 million.