Buyers get win from condos' loss

RALEIGH -- Before Sunday's auction of 36 new inside-the-Beltline condominiums got started, the 250 participants were given a bit of advice.

Max Spann Sr., the owner of one of the companies running the auction, said real-estate auctions are fun events that often cause people to lose bodily control.

"We don't want you to hurt yourself," said Spann, who proceeded to get everybody to stretch their arms and hug the person next to them before the bidding commenced.

An hour and a half later, the auction's army of dark-suited salesmen had moved 32 Meadow Wood Park condos for prices ranging from $100,000 to $196,000. For winning bidders such as Jim Turner, who bought one of the last condos auctioned off for $100,000, the experience was both invigorating and terrifying.

"We don't know if we did the right thing or not," said Turner, who lives in Raleigh and hopes to sell the condo to his daughter eventually.

Sunday's auction, held at the Marriott Crabtree Valley, was advertised as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy into a quality project that had become a casualty of the housing downturn and the credit crunch.

The original developer of Meadow Wood Park, just south of I-440 on Atlantic Avenue, was foreclosed on by Royal Bank America, the Pennsylvania lender behind the auction.

Turner was among those attendees who thought the Meadow Wood Park units would fetch even less than they did Sunday.

"We feel like it was a deal, but we were looking for a steal," he said.

Meadow Wood Park consists of two 36-unit buildings, the second of which was auctioned off Sunday.

Before the bank foreclosed, more than 20 Meadow Wood Park condos were sold in the first building for an average price of $197,000, with prices ranging from $184,000 to $250,500.

Many of those buyers were eager to see the results of Sunday's auction, since rock bottom prices would hurt their own units' resale value.

The average price of the units auctioned off Sunday's was $137,875.

Joon Miller was among the first half dozen people to purchase a condo Sunday, paying $156,000 for a two-bedroom unit with a garage. The auction structure was "high bidder's choice," meaning the winning bidder in each round was able to choose a unit from among those still available.

Miller, who bought his condo as an investment property, paid significantly more than later buyers, but he had many more units to choose from.

"It's not rock-bottom price, but it's better than those who bought [before the property was foreclosed on]," he said.

A number of people in the crowd on Sunday were attending their first-ever real-estate auction, including Sarah Davis.

Davis, who was prepared to bid $120,000 to $125,000, sat with her father and watched nervously as the units she was interested in went for more than that. As the final two one-bedroom units came up, Davis decided to take the plunge and put in a winning bid of $100,000.

"I got the cheapest thing," she said.

Her father, Bill Davis, was optimistic that she had performed admirably for a novice.

"In three years, she'll probably be able to sell this for a decent profit and move to a single-family house," he said.

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