Webre says the firm will find a home for any items that it can't sell-for instance, arranging for donations to groups that help the homeless.
Another way to choose an auction house is by its successes, often touted on its Web site.
In March, Freeman's announced it sold a Chinese blue and white Ming-style vase for a record $1.385 million, almost double what nearly identical vases have sold for within the last three years.
Record sales are only one part of the typical firm's Web presence. Most have extensive sites that outline consignment costs and buyers' premiums, alert clients of upcoming auctions for which they are seeking merchandise and let prospective bidders view items before an auction. Doyle even has an online form where people can submit descriptions and pictures of items to get an estimate of value.
"Kathleen Doyle, our chairman and CEO, was a real visionary about the Internet," Webre says. "Doyle was the very first New York auction house to offer catalogues on the Internet. We were the very first to do live interactive bidding through Amazon. We saw that the Internet never sleeps."
Using the Internet for bidding has changed some of the dynamics of auctions, although there's no substitute for the live process.
"The prices we get are a direct result of the enthusiasm of the audience in the room," Mournet says. "An auctioneer is a combination of professional cool and enthusiasm. I try to approach everyone ... however briefly, to establish a relationship with the bidder. Smile, make eye contact, say thank you. You don't want people to be afraid of you. You want them to feel you really want them to get the piece, feel part of the process, that you are there to help them."
The Art Of The Real Estate Auction
It's hard to beat the law of supply and demand, so when no one wants to buy the $10 million waterfront mansion that's been on the market for more than a year, it may be time to change tactics.
That's where a firm like Concierge Auctions comes in.
The preferred auction partner to Sotheby's International Realty, Concierge uses targeted marketing to auction luxury real estate properties within 60 days of listing.
"Today's market has a large supply of luxury homes across all markets," says George Graham, Concierge's CEO. "Two and a half years post-Lehman, the world of luxury real estate has changed. People have become very utilitarian. They only want to buy something they are going to use."
So sellers are stuck keeping a property on the market for a year or more, continually lowering their asking price, and still often are unable to unload a home they no longer want, never visit or really need to liquidate for cash. In the meantime, the owner continues to pay property taxes and maintenance costs that can total $200,000 a year.
"The one piece of advice the broker gives is 'Let's lower the price.' The seller gets so frustrated with the process," Graham says. "Our sellers are the most motivated ones in the market."
What Concierge does is partner with a local agent who knows the local market well and then launches an intense marketing blitz that can interest as many as 200 potential buyers and attract ten bidders or more on average, according to Graham. The firm does extensive marketing on the Internet and in local print publications, as well as using e-blasts to give a property maximum exposure.
A recent example of where this partnership worked well was the sale of the Tulip Hill estate in Anne Arundel County, Md., considered to be one of the finest pre-Revolutionary War estates in the nation. Listed at one point for $7.5 million, the Georgian mansion on 54 acres wound up selling for $2.5 million, more than its revised estimate, in April 2010. Graham attributed that to Concierge's affiliation with listing broker Long & Foster Realtors, experts in historic properties in the mid-Atlantic region.
Concierge pre-qualifies all potential bidders in advance, so a seller can know that his listing is reaching only those who are seriously looking for a property and can afford it.
While most people turn to an auction after being unable to sell a home privately, Graham says some, like Cher, are doing so right away so they don't wind up wasting time and spending money maintaining the property. Last year, Concierge handled the auction of a home that had been newly built for her in the exclusive Hualalai Resort in Hawaii. Expected to go for between $8 million and $12 million, it sold for $8.72 million.
"She looked at her chances if she had listed it and figured she would end up in the same place [at auction]," Graham says. "In the end, she decided it was not worth carrying the property for all that time.
"But that is more rare," he adds. "Most people really need to be motivated before they contact us."
One of the hurdles sellers need to overcome is an inflated sense of value. While home values did rise precipitously over the last decade, they have declined since 2008's economic downturn and are likely not worth any estimate that is more than three years old.
"People need to realize the market is where it is," says Graham. "There is currently a backlog of properties that needs to be cleared before values will rise again.
"We will find a real buyer if the seller is prepared to stomach the medicine: What is it really worth today?"