jones swenson auction news & information

 

November 30, 2009 (KANSAS CITY, Mo.) – More than 160 attendees gathered in Houston, Texas, on November 16, for the first in a series of commercial multi-property auction events conducted by Colliers International and United Country Auction Services. The Houston auction was conducted by United Country – Jones Swenson Auction Marketing, Inc. with offices in Austin and Dallas. W. Scott Swenson, CAI, GPPA served as the auctioneer.

Colliers and United Country have partnered to deliver Accelerated Real Estate Resolution Services (ARERS) using a blended model of asset disposition facilitated by the auction marketing method. This alliance offers tailored solutions to client needs in today’s challenging commercial real estate market.

The ARERS marketing program, a strategic, integrated marketing investment valued in excess of six figures, generated more than 7,400 online property views, 7.5 million impressions and more than 300 buyer inquiries in advance of the Houston live auction event, which drew in 164 attendees, including 22 registered bidders who presented one or more $25,000 deposit checks.

Through the event’s targeted marketing strategies, two properties were sold prior to the auction to buyers who presented preemptive bids. Additionally, active bidding during the live auction event and post-auction negotiations resulted in a total of more than $5 million of commercial property sales.

“The results of the Houston event exceeded our expectations and clearly illustrate the power of Accelerated Real Estate Resolution Services’ marketing and event execution, said Patrick Duffy, chairman of Colliers’ National Retail Group. “The auction itself produced numerous contracts and we anticipate the outstanding buyer interest generated by the event will ultimately result in numerous additional closings within the next 90 days.”

The auction marketing techniques deployed by ARERS are specifically designed to expose properties to motivated and capable buyers, determine and secure true market value through the competitive bidding process and provide a date certain process that reduces holding costs for commercial real estate clients.

The November 16 auction in Houston was the first in a series of commercial multi-property auction events to be held across the U.S. Similar auctions will take place in Florida and California in early 2010 with additional dates and locations to be added in coming months. These multi-property auctions will include a combination of live auction bidding, online auction simulcasts and sealed bidding.

Mike Jones, president of United Country Auction Services said, “As the nation’s largest integrated real estate auction network with nearly 650 offices, 4,000 agents and 150 experienced auction professionals, United Country brings the support platform, accelerated marketing and auction expertise to this effort. With nearly 13,000 employees in 61 countries, Colliers brings first-tier local commercial real estate expertise and global marketing reach. We believe that this team represents one of the most powerful asset-disposition platforms ever assembled for commercial real estate. The success of our first commercial multi-property auction today is proof of the power of this partnership and we look forward to providing this enhanced, differentiated solution to commercial real estate clients through the upcoming multi-property auctions across the nation.”

Asset managers and investors who are interested in learning more about the accelerated commercial real estate asset resolution services offered by Colliers and United Country can contact Patrick Duffy at Patrick.duffy@colliers.com , Mike Jones at mikejones@unitedcountry.com or Scott Swenson at scott@jonesswenson.com .

United Country Real Estate is the largest fully integrated franchise network of conventional real estate and auction real estate professionals in the United States. Based in Kansas City, Mo., the company has been an innovator in real estate marketing since 1925. United Country supports nearly 650 offices across the U.S. and in Costa Rica with a unique, comprehensive marketing program that includes one of the largest portfolios of property marketing web sites (more than 1,000 separate sites), seven proprietary real estate catalogs with a cumulative distribution of 1.5 million, an extensive buyer database and national advertising of properties to more than 90 million potential buyer prospects a week. United Country has been recognized by Dun and Bradstreet’s AllBusiness.com as the top U.S. real estate franchise, the Wall Street Journal as a top 1 percent franchise and Entrepreneur Magazine's Franchise 500^® as a top 100 global franchise. For more information, visit http://www.unitedcountry.com.