(If you would like to see a replay of this event, click here)

NEW YORK CITY-Auctions have come back into vogue as a popular format for selling off distressed assets, as they were two decades ago. However, in the view of Keith Yang, there's a misconception that auctions—whether online or oral outcry—are "a measure of last resort." He predicts that they'll soon come to be seen as a first resort, due to their efficiency.

Founder and president of AuctionPoint, Yang was one of a panel of experts convened for Thursday's GlobeSt.com Webinar, "Reaping the Benefits of Auctions." CEO John Cuticelli of Racebrook Capital Advisors/Sheldon Good summed up those benefits in his opening remarks: "Auctions are a beneficial tool when you're in a market where values are not immediately apparent."

We're in such a market now, as we were in the days of the Resolution Trust Corp. A key differentiator between then and now is the increasing prominence of technology: Yang noted that the Internet was not mature enough to be a viable medium in the RTC era, while Kev Rivkin, EVP and managing director of REDC Commercial, observed that more of his firm's auctions lately are being conducted on the Web.