A luxury condo that was priced at $690,000 recently sold at auction for $86,840. No, it wasn’t a bank foreclosure but via a new Web site called IBidCondo that’s launching later this summer.
IBidCondo requires potential bidders to pay for a $100 “seat” to have the right to bid on the auction. The auction itself has no reserve. If you don’t win, you’re still out the $100 seat fee.
IBidCondo makes its money from the sale of those seats. For example, if it’s looking to sell a property worth $320,000, IBidCondo will sell a maximum of 3,200 seats.
After the auction is complete, half of the final price goes to charity. IBidCondo takes a 5 percent cut of the total.
The system has some definite idiosyncrasies. Auctions can be quick – as short as 7 minutes. And the amount you can bid increases as the clock ticks – only $10 at first but up to $1,000 as the auction nears a close. That means that the last few seconds are the only part of the auction that really counts. Participants can bid as many times and as often as they want.
Is this competition for other property Web sites. Nah. But it may grant a few lucky people a luxury home at a fire sale price.
