CHICAGO—The end of the year can get hectic, with most people worried about finishing up holiday preparations like Christmas shopping and vacation plans. But many prospective commercial real estate sellers have additional worries. Whether for tax purposes or other reasons, they have properties they want to unload before the end of the year and time has almost run out.
But officials from Auctions by ATG, a Chicago-based subsidiary of Attorneys' Title Guaranty Fund, Inc., say online auctioning can be a quick way to unload those unwanted properties.
“We get a lot of calls near the end of the year from clients who need to sell a property quickly to fulfill a tax strategy, or their portfolio needs to be in a certain place at year's end or they just need to free up some cash,” Mary Fran Gill, operations manager for Auctions by ATG, tells GlobeSt.com. The firm has been in business since early 2012 and periodically conducts online auctions. The next auction is tomorrow and the one after that is on November 11.
Clients come to the auction firm in several ways. They may have attempted to sell their property in a traditional way but failed, and want Auctions by ATG's marketing and outreach efforts to provide a “call to action that will spark interest in the property,” says Gill. Others just really need to sell a property in 30 days and pick up quick cash. “That has a lot of appeal to people who want a specific sell date.”
“We get a nice mix of properties, so there is something for everyone,” Gill adds, including residences and all types of commercial properties, “although we have seen a spike in industrial properties.”
In August, for example, the firm sold 10130 Virginia Ave. in suburban Chicago Ridge, a 36,000-square-foot industrial building and 108,977-square-feet of land, for $1,150,000. And currently up for auction on November 11 is a 30,000-square-foot industrial building at 1220 E. 75th St. in Chicago. The firm has set the opening bid for this property at $450,000.
One big advantage for those looking to sell, Gill says, is that Auctions by ATG has a reliable customer base. “We get a lot of calls from prospective buyers asking, 'do you have any good deals coming up?'” Many are investors in 1031 exchanges or others just looking to round out their portfolio by the end of the year. “They feel they will get more of a discount due to someone being under the gun.”
The firm typically conducts an auction of between 10 to 20 properties every month or every other month. In the last two auctions, they used absolute auctions for several properties. For these, the bidding starts at zero and the properties go to the highest bidder. On September 25, for example, the firm did this for a bank-owned property of just over 4 acres at 11100 W. 143st St. in suburban Orland Park, IL. It attracted multiple bidders and sold for $69,600, Gill says. “If you're really just looking to get rid of something that method is ideal.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
