On a sunny afternoon in Florida, an energetic crowd gathers on the lawn of a high end luxury estate. A loud and eager banter between an auctioneer, a group of bidders and bidder assistants fills the air. For several minutes the auctioneer asks for the next highest bid and the bidders respond. Suddenly the bidders grow silent. The high bidder holds his breath in anticipation of winning the auction. The auctioneer calls for one more bid. In a loud clear voice which rolls over the audience he says, “Fair warning, last chance” the auctioneer pauses, “SOLD!” And in less than 10 minutes another multimillion dollar estate has changed owners.

Successful real estate auctions like the one above are happening all over North America and the Caribbean. Recently real estate auctions have been on the rise, the increase in popularity is partly driven by growing inventories and fading buyer confidence. Properties that were selling in weeks using traditional methods are now languishing on the market unable to attract buyers even as seller’s lower prices. Many say the real estate boom is over but savvy buyers and sellers are profiting from real estate auctions.

Real Estate Auctions Work in Up or Down Markets.

Regardless of trends or market cycles, real estate auctions provide an open and transparent process for buyers and sellers. Properly conducted real estate auctions attract ready and willing buyers and motivate them to act now.

The auction method removes the “wait and see” attitude which serves to further depress real estate values. Buyers are always concerned about overpaying. Buyers gain confidence with their purchases at real estate auctions because they can see what others are willing to pay.

When market demand is high and inventories low, real estate auctions can deliver selling prices well above what a willing seller would have accepted in a negotiated private treaty sale. In good selling climates many property owners using traditional real estate methods; negotiating with one buyer at a time, leave thousands of dollars of equity on the table. During up markets real estate auctions are the best way to establish top market price.

Evaluating Your Real Estate for Auction

Not every property or seller for that matter makes a good candidate for auction. First of all sellers must be ready to sell now and for the current market value. Also a real estate auction will not fix problems caused by a downturn in market value of your property, if you owe more than a willing buyer will pay, be prepared to come to closing with your check book.

Properties that do well in real estate auctions have a high uniqueness factor. Ask your self, “What makes my property different from most others?” Maybe you own a resort property or high end luxury home, commercial properties and land do very well at auction. Real estate auctions thrive on uniqueness. If your property is like everyone else’s, the best thing you can do is offer the most competitive price.

Most importantly sellers must be reasonable about setting a minimum bid. A seller must look at the lowest, most current comps and price below that to generate the interest and urgency necessary for a successful real estate auction. Once the auction begins and qualified bidders start competing against one another you can watch the selling price increase.

Locate a Qualified Real Estate Auctioneer

Start by checking with the National Auctioneers Association, the best real estate auctioneers belong to this organization. These real estate auctioneers are well trained and adhere to a standard of practice and a code of ethics. Many attend the annual International Auctioneers Conference where the latest techniques and innovations in the real estate auction industry are presented.

Find out if the company you are interviewing is a full time real estate auction firm. Many real estate agents are getting auction licenses yet have no experience with the auction method of marketing. Conducting a successful real estate auction is nothing like (private treaty) traditional real estate sales. Go with a real estate auction pro.

You’re probably better of with an auction house that specializes in real estate auctions. There are many qualified auctioneers who have generations of experience selling personal property; furniture, dishes, lawn equipment and the occasional rare painting. Selling real estate at auction is a complex matter that should only be attempted by full time experienced real estate auction professionals.

Commissions and fees may vary, sellers must pay all marketing expenses up front and buyers typically pay 10% of the sales price to the auctioneer of which a share goes to participating real estate agents.

Types of Real Estate Auctions

Auctions are effective because they create a seller’s market. Professionally conducted real estate auctions create urgency, a reason to buy today and competition for the property. Terms and conditions of sale are established ahead of the auction. Real estate auctions will follow one of these three approaches:

Absolute Auction

The property is sold to the highest bidder regardless of price- using this process often returns the highest sale price.

Minimum Bid Auction

Seller agrees to sell at or above a published minimum bid price – this method is useful for internet auctions.

Seller Confirmation or Reserve Auction

With a reserve auction, the seller “reserves” the right to accept or decline any bids usually within 48 hours of the auction. Reserve auctions are used when there is a lien on the property from a lender or a court ordered sale with a minimum selling price.

Advertisement is an important aspect of marketing. It plays an important role in attracting consumers. Marketers are thinking innovative and creative techniques to grasp the attention of the consumers. There is a competition going on between the organizations to win a large share of market and consumer. Recently, a new kind of advertising has been observed that is airplane advertising. It is considered to be the most effective advertising type in the modern era.

When advertising is concerned, the task is not only to create the seducing and memorable message, but to give a long-lasting impact on consumers. Today, it’s the utmost desire of any organization to create strong influence that will attract the people to the respect the organization, service or product against all other competitors. The aim of successful advertising is to make customer believe that it is impossible to live without the marketed product. Marketers persuade this in a tactical way so that customers feel incomplete without the product and purchase the product instantaneously. Keeping this strategy in mind, companies always need to be formulating creative and new methods to get its product and message in the market.

Benefits:
One should consider and formulate the benefits of advertising techniques for carrying out their latest campaign. Currently, large organizations have switched over to airplane advertising due to its immense benefits. This kind of advertising helps to approach large spectators in the chosen area which is expected to be highly populated. To carry out the advertising, a plane is hired to do the required job. The plane is then used to display the banner over the chosen area. This type of advertising can grasp the attention of a large number of people in one flight. Sometimes, these highly populated areas consist of thousands of people. Thus it is effective for mass audience and market.

The second important benefit is that in this method only one company’s advertisement is in the air. It is to be realized that only one advertisement in air means that all the people’s eyes and concentration will be on that one company’s product without any other competitor’s product in sight. This advertising may appear to be quite expensive but has long-lasting impact on a large number of consumers. Once the advertisement banner is made, the company has to pay for the flights.

The two kinds of Airplane Advertisement:
For the choice of marketer, a large number of different kinds of styles are available for airplane advertisement. The recognized and common form of advertisement is the text banner. Generally, it is a single layered banner comprising only numbers and letters in black. It is an excellent method to advertise about a sale or discounted offer at a store, to publicize a unique event or simply to display a company’s blog, email or website address.

The second technique is in the shape of usual advertisement but in a unique way. It is called as billboard advertisement. Usually it is in the form and size of a typical and common billboard encountered on the roads. This bill board will not be installed on the highway or road side but will be soaring in the sky. It can easily catch the attention of any person within that locality. It can be utilized in any way like simply displaying the logo of a company. This later suggestion is fruitful for those companies who have an established brand and have gained immense popularity among the consumers. There is a surety in this type of advertisement that can approach target audience in an original and unique way.

If you come across anyone who tells you that a J-O-B is a negative thing, saying words such as “Just over Broke” or “A Job”, it is always best to thank them for their opinion and move on from them. While we can all agree that you will never get rich as an employee (well, maybe with the exception of an employee in a company that gives you stock/shares), we can also agree that we need to have income coming in as much as possible. We know that if time freedom is high on your list, you will never get that as an employee. Unless you are the owner of the company. But still, you need income coming in, even if it means getting it from a day job.There is nothing wrong with having a day job.Most of us know that there are negatives and positives when it comes to having a day job. The negatives are that you will have to commute, trade your time for dollars, endure psychological and physiological stress, office politics, after-tax income and so on. However, there are positives as to why you should keep your day job (within reason) especially if you’re still running a home-based business.The truth is, we all have to bring in money. It doesn’t matter whether you are an employee, a business owner, network marketer, songwriter, real estate broker, doctor – whatever. There is a saying that money isn’t everything in this world, but it sure does come close to oxygen. Let’s face it. Money isn’t everything, but it is important.Anyone who says “I don’t need the money” or “I don’t do it for the money” is actually lying to themselves and to others. If they do not need the money, then why are they still working at their jobs? If they don’t need the money and they love their jobs, why not work for free? Now, I can hear a lot of people tell me “that’s not fair, you have to be compensated for what you do.” Ahhh. So, that means money still is important. Most of the answers people would give are “I’ve got to pay the bills” or “I’ve got to take care of the IRS or CRA or creditors” and so forth.I’m guilty of this too, so I’m not pointing fingers. But it’s important to be aware of this. We all have to bring in money, and I mean legally. Whether that be a job or a business (that serves the world and helps people, of course).Most people are not cut out for entrepreneurship and that’s totally fine. But for those of us who have the entrepreneurial bug bite, the first important matter is to always remain grounded while remaining a visionary.When I mean remaining grounded, I mean being responsible. Having a home-based business and thinking that you will grow rich if you do it full time, does not give you the excuse to leave your day job when you have a massive amount of bills to pay. Even Bill Gates and Sylvester Stallone had to bring in some sort of income while they were obsessed with making their dreams come true.For those of us who are not familiar with Maslow’s Hierarchy, Maslow states that we must always satisfy our basic needs. Food, Shelter, Water, Clothing, etc. If you are not currently getting that from your home-based business, you need to bring in income. Even if it means bringing it from a job.There is nothing wrong with a job (unless the job is killing you and dangerously leading your stressful life to a cancerous result). Although you have to trade time for dollars, you are getting dollars and that’s a fact. You need to focus on your survival needs first and then build towards your thriving life.Anyone who puts down jobs either had money handed down to them, or they had forgotten where they came from. These are the people who do not respect life in general and it won’t be long before their table of success turns on them. Instead of putting down jobs, or people with jobs, they should inspire people and encourage people to go for their dreams. Not FORCE them.David Foster was flat broke once. Tony Robbins, Dr. Joe Vitale, Sanjay Burman, Loreena McKennett, Gordon Ramsay, the late Steve Jobs – they all started out with humble beginnings. But they never forgot where they came from. They worked hard and smart, and they never forgot that.We all are brothers and sisters on this planet. The only thing is that not everyone has the same energy amongst each other.If you want to build a huge home-based business and are starting out from scratch, here are some tips you can try:

If you are a daredevil and totally believe you can make it, go for it and take risks – but make sure the risks are the kind that you learn from and not die from.
If you have a full time job, keep it. But schedule your home based business around it, so that you have a balance. You still have to bring in money, especially if you need to finance your business. Unless you are 100% certain that you can pay it back, refrain from going for a bank loan.
If you don’t like your full time job and it is massively stressful (like office politics, violence, etc.), make sure you have enough in the bank to sustain yourself for a couple of months while you work on your home based business.
You can also apply to another full time job that you like, at least to keep yourself afloat. Note: Make sure it is a job that you can do and not one that you’re low on expertise for. You’ll find that you’ll have to spend a huge amount of time learning the skills from home if it does not help your home-based business. Otherwise, perhaps find something positive about it. Maybe the skills could be used in your home based business.
Join networking groups and promote your business. It doesn’t matter whether it is network marketing, direct selling, real estate, franchises, whatever. Just continually promote and network. Get in the habit of meeting people and having conversations.
If you have the time, join a Mastermind group. Find one that works best for you and that you can contribute and learn from.
Be aware of overtime hours from your job. If you’re going to get plenty of these, you might want to consider a home-based network marketing business. When you sponsor people, you can train them once a week or month and they can prospect while you work overtime at your full time job.
Master the Art of Automation – put your business on the internet, Master it and if you got it working, it will work on Autopilot for a certain period of time. Imagine making more money while you are at your full time job, or when you are asleep. Network Marketing also works beautifully with Internet Marketing.
Make sure to pay off your credit cards or other creditors. If you are already in the danger zone, consider credit counselling (don’t be embarrassed; we’re seeing a huge worldwide credit crisis more than ever in human history. The important thing is that you learn from your mistakes).
If you are severely burnt out, make sure you have enough reserves for a couple of months, so that you can resign from your job. Take time to relax, rejuvenate, read books on how to build your business or self-improvement. Go to a baseball/basketball game or even musical theatre. A trip to the great outdoors – whatever is a great meditation for you.
Consider focusing on your passions, even if life is going chaotic and crazy. Know that when you can find time to do what is considered a meditational moment for you, you will balance out your life.
Look at your job positively. You could take whatever skills and experience you’ve learned on the job into your home based business. For example, I work as a web designer and front end developer as a contractor for several clients, even though my business is in building residual income and health consultation for others. But it is through the web designer/front end developer jobs that I learned how to put together this website and make it dynamic. I would have never learned about the technology without it. So jobs are important and are still great income sources. There is also nothing wrong with loving your job either. I know some successful entrepreneurs who sometimes miss their old full time employment and wished there was a way to have both at the same time. If you enjoy your job, be proud of it. But if you can, build a home based business on the side so that you have a cushion when the economy changes again.We could spend a whole article on this, but the important thing to remember is that you must keep the money coming in, whether it is by your job, by residual income or passive income. Residual and Passive income is always best, but if you’re not getting these yet, you must bring in money, even if it’s from your job.When you prospect or network for your business, you do not necessarily have to tell others what you do at your day job, or what your job title is. You can tell them what your home-based business title is. If they get to know you more personally, you can mention that you have a full time job, but you’re working hard and smart towards working in your home-based business full-time.Remember, there is nothing wrong with a job. If it is the only source of income you have at the moment, it is the one that is going to help you provide food on the table for you and your family (if you have a family) as well as shelter, utilities and an internet connection, plus items for your home-based business (like laptops, nutritional supplements, phones, whatever.)You’ve got to start with financial security, so that you can focus on financial freedom. People who have financial freedom handed down to them will find their way to financial security fast, if they do not know how to get to and stay at financial freedom.Sure, a job is “just over broke”, but it’s better to be that than to be broke without any options!