Selling Land at Auction

Some of the most fun I’ve had in this business is watching the bids come in.

$1 auctions, no fees, no reserve

Back in 2016 I ran land auctions starting at $1 — no fees and no reserve — on desert lots I bought through my mailers in places like 29 Palms and Lucerne Valley, California. It was a fast way to find the real market price and get buyers excited. Those auction videos are still on my YouTube channel.

Sold – Lucerne Valley CA, 5 acres, Auction $1 no Fees no Reserve (2016)

Commercial land on Crexi

When I moved into high-traffic commercial land, I took the auction idea with me. In 2023 I joined Crexi’s land auction program and ran commercial lots through it — including retail land in Bremen, Georgia and Toledo, Ohio, apartment land in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and properties in Burke County, North Carolina and Sonora, California — working alongside local brokers to bring bidders in.

On one auction day I wrote to the Crexi team that watching the bids was “better than the movies or going to a race track.” Auctions taught me how reserves, traffic counts and neighbors drive what buyers will really pay — lessons I use to price every deal now.

Auction in Bremen GA, High Traffic Retail Land

Toledo OH Auction, High Traffic Retail Land

Williams & Williams

In 2024 I also worked with Williams & Williams auction house on land sales, including properties in Sonora, California and Berkshire County, Massachusetts.