Add condos at the GrandView at Annapolis Towne Centre to the list of high-end units hitting the auction block.
Sturbridge Homes, the builder, plans to auction off as many as 30 units Nov. 14. Open houses for the event began last weekend.
Minimum bids are about 60 to 70 percent off the most recent asking prices, according to auctioneer Sheldon Good & Co. (which supplied the photograph above). It says the minimum bid is $308,000 for a condo last priced at $995,000, the highest of the lot, with the lowest minimum bid at $148,500 for a condo last priced at $415,000.
("Last asking price" isn't necessarily the lowest. One condo set to be auctioned off, advertised with a $915,000 "previous" price, was on the multiple-listing service this summer for $805,000. Shades of the HarborView auction in Baltimore.)
Mark Troen, chief operating officer of Sheldon Good, said the builder and its lenders guarantee that they will sell at least 10 units if they get bids at least as high as the minimum.
"We believe you have to motivate the market," Troen said. "We've given everybody the opportunity to take advantage of compelling pricing."
Two-thirds of the GrandView is empty. About 50 of the 150 units have changed hands so far, the first in May 2009.
Condo fees for the two-bedroom units being auctioned range from about $400 to $600 a month, the auctioneers say. The smallest units going on the block -- one-bed, one-bath -- have $274-a-month condo fees.
Separately from the November auction, the auctioneers will take sealed bids on three of the 10 penthouse units. The current asking prices for those three range from just under $1.2 million to just over $1.7 million, the auctioneers say. (The builder is not on the hook to accept any of those bids if officials there don't like the offers.)
Seen any other interesting auctions?