CHICAGO—The owners of the Farnsworth Corporate Center - a 38,000-square-foot office property located at 1000 & 1050 Corporate Blvd. in Aurora, Illinois – have decided on an unusual approach to a familiar problem on today's commercial real estate landscape. With high vacancies and market rents well below their levels in 2003, (the year the owners acquired the property), they realized that continued ownership of the property was not an option, but they also wanted to take a shot at recouping some of the equity that went into buying the property. Therefore, on November 7, 2013, the property will get auctioned off to the highest bidder in a sale conducted at The Union League Club of Chicago, 65 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, Illinois at 11 AM. The lender-sanctioned, pre-deed-in-lieu-of-foreclosure auction will start without a minimum or reserve.

The sellers say this gives them an opportunity at recouping some or all of its equity or maybe even some profit if the bidding goes high enough. If the bidding goes for less than what they owe on their mortgage, all the sale proceeds will go to the lender, assuming that the lender does not bid at the auction. If the lender does bid at the auction, they will acquire the property pursuant to the terms of the deed-in-lieu agreement that is attached as an exhibit to the disposition agreement entered into between the owner/seller and the mortgagee. By completing their purchase with a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, the lender is further protected against claims by junior lien holders, if any.

"While having the right to bid at the auction, that is the last thing that a lender would want to do," says David M. Kaufman, a manager of DK Realty Partners, LLC, the auctioneer conducting the November 7th sale. Kaufman continues, "If the lender does bid and winds up the highest bidder, now what? They would have to take title to the property, hire a property manager, hire a real estate broker to list and market the property only to wind up selling it perhaps a year or more down the road for the same price that they paid at the auction, if they are lucky. They would be much better off to sit on the sidelines and let the highest marketplace bidder take them out at true market value."