Auction interest rising

From the Press of Atlantic City:

Going, going, gone ? Is the real estate boom
By RICHARD DEGENER

Buyers have been scarce lately as the once-booming shore real estate market has cooled, so sellers are resorting to some interesting tactics.

Offering a Ford Mustang with a new condo or a furniture allowance are a few tactics being employed, but another seemingly new one is actually a very old one: It’s the good old-fashioned shore home auction.

They used to hold them in tents, bringing buyers in from the big cities by train. Sometimes shore real-estate developers would hold parades on the boardwalk to drum up customers.

The Pennsylvania-based Traiman Auction Company held its first one in Ocean City in 1925. Its latest one is set for this Sunday at the Wildwood Convention Center, where 13 Wildwood Crest properties will be auctioned, although all sales are subject to the seller’s approval.

Doug Clemens, the chairman and CEO of the company, said auction interest rises when properties aren’t moving.

“They just have an overbuilt situation that has to be corrected in the next couple years. Sellers are looking for alternatives. A tremendous amount of real estate has come on the market and a number of auctions are coming. Ours is the first,” Clemens said.

Builders are complaining about a lack of buyers right now. It could be from too much new construction, but rising interest rates are not helping. Some also argue shore real estate is overpriced.

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