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Derek Gerstenschlager, Southeast Regional Director for RealEstateAuctions.com

Derek Gerstenschlager, Southeast Regional Director, is an auctioneer, entrepreneur, real estate sales professional and a self-described workaholic.

In his role with RealEstateAuctions.com, he manages the states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, with a total of 22 teams. As of this writing, the company is active in Georgia with licensing in the other states in progress.

Derek initially resisted a career in real estate—the career of his late father—but eventually embraced it with a zeal that has earned him industry awards and even the accolades of the general public. For the past two years, Derek’s last auction firm in Tennessee, was named in a Gannet newspapers poll among readers as the best local auction firm.

Now with RealEstateAuctions.com, Derek brings his many years of experience to a key executive position in states that are fertile for auction sales.

Born in Orange County, California, Derek moved as a child with his family to a farming community in Tennessee. Derek’s father, Harold Gerstenschlager,  was involved in real estate investment syndication and sales, running his own company in California and Tennessee. Derek recalls with fondness that his mother, Mary, worked at Harold’s side for almost 60 years.

But as a young man, Derek’s focus was not necessarily the same as his father’s, at least initially. Instead, Derek developed interests in aviation, cars, construction and scuba diving, running an aircraft resale company and working in the Florida Keys and diving. But when his father fell gravely ill almost 13 years ago, Derek focused his energy in the auction business at his dad’s suggestion, working for Prudential and selling 80-100 properties a year. While at Prudential, he won numerous awards and was named to the Top Two Percent of all earners in the entire company nationwide.

Derek Gerstenschlager has worked at other real estate firms prior to establishing his own auction company, and even ran Gerstenschlager Construction in the Mid South area, which had contracts from the federal government and national chains such as Nations Bank, Suntrust Bank, Home Depot and Lowes.

Derek holds numerous auction-industry and real estate designations, including CAI AARE, CES, E-pro, CRS and GRI. He helped pioneer the buyer’s premium concept in his part of the country and is a very strong proponent of online bidding. He has been a self-proclaimed Dream merchant making thousands of clients’ dreams come true with the power of auctions.

Derek has an adult son Nikolaus currently serving in the USAF, and an adult daughter Natasha working on her doctorate in Math at MTSU.

For more information about real estate agent opportunities in Derek Gerstenschlager‘s region, as well as Georgia auctions, Alabama auctions, Mississippi auctions and Louisiana auctions, call him at 615-485-6252 or send an email to DGerstenschlager@RealEstateAuctions.com. 

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Blog author Kim Davis is a Business Development Executive in Lee and Collier counties, FL, for RealEstateAuctions.com

I recently met with an investor who has been doing business in the county where I live for a very long time. He’s very sophisticated with the sale of almost everything real estate. He has made a fortune staying one step ahead of the competition and keeping up with the new technological advances…no fax machine transactions for this guy. He reminded me of that in his business. Quick-liquidation for the most amount of money is the primary concern. As a real estate investor myself, I try to improve the profit margin so strategy for liquidation is a key factor.  What he taught me is that the faster we churn the properties, ultimately the more profit.

So the question becomes, what is the best way to sell my property for the most amount of money? The funny thing is he has become aware of what I already know. Let’s take a guess…yes it’s auctions. When a property is placed on the internet it receives massive exposure. Why do you think real estate professionals have all gone to websites and advertising on the internet? If it’s true that the majority of folks are now buying properties in their bunny slippers, then you better have an online presence or you’re out of the game. Now couple the internet exposure with an urgency to buy because the auction ends at a specific time and BOOM it’s a done deal.

As a globally recognized company we automatically have buyers lined up from all over the world. Foreign investors are forever interested in our market; therefore, it makes sense as an investor to sell your property online where everyone can see it. One of the common auction myths is that you are going to take a price hit if you sell at auction. This is not the case at all and in fact, you might receive more money due to the massive marketing exposure. We at RealEstateAuctions.com are here to help you become the profitable money machine you’ve always wanted to be. Give us a chance and I guarantee you can take it to the BANK.

Kim Davis is a Business Development Executive in Southwest Florida for RealEstateAuctions.com. For more information about Lee County FL auctions and Collier County FL auctions, as well as all the benefits in general of auctions for buyers, sellers and real estate professionals, contact Kim by calling her at 239-770-0153 or emailing her at KDavis@RealEstateAuctions.com.

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Blog author Efren Del Rio is a Business Development Executive in Los Angeles for RealEstateAuctions.com

Finally we see some light at the end of the Shadow Inventory tunnel!

As I was reading my reports from all the different trackers of this up and down business of ours, I was able to breathe a big sigh of relief with the numbers before me. Foreclosures rates have increased across the country. Banks are more willing now to take control of properties, due to the increase in pricing.

The increased repossessions are a sign that lenders will be releasing more inventory as the year continues. For all of us in the home sales industry, it could not have come at a better time.

The states with the biggest increase are Florida taking the lead from Nevada, which was the previous national leader. The Florida foreclosure rate increased about 20 percent more than the previous month. One in every 300 housing units had a foreclosure filing in Florida. RealtyTrac reports this is three times the national average.

Nevada and California followed with approximately 27 months of decreases in these foreclosures filings by the various lenders. Foreclosure activity has started to come back in markets across the country where it seemed that the foreclosure problem had been slowed by an aggressive prevention effort for the past couple of years.

However, the emerging housing recovery has strengthened most local markets enough to withstand another round of repossessions by the lenders. It will be interesting to see how much longer the continued increase in pricing across the bigger cities gets equalized by more foreclosed housing being introduced to the markets on a national level.

Efren Del Rio is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader in Los Angeles County for RealEstateAuctions.com and also serves as the company’s state broker in California. Contact him for more information about this blog, or about Los Angeles auctions in general, by calling 323-481-3598 or emailing EDelrio@RealEstateAuctions.com.

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Blog author Wendy Bauman is a Business Development Executive in Alameda County, CA for RealEstateAuctions.com

Can you imagine making the biggest purchase of your life in a market replete with 20-48 offers on every house? Wow. That’s stressful.

You huddle with your agent. The kids are tired, hungry, bored. When can we go? You ask the question, the one that says it all. How can we get THIS one? This, after losing several already. Agent sighs, looks at comps. “I wish I knew,” she says…

As you have been told and know to your core, the comps don’t matter. Only buyers who do not want to buy look at the comps any more. Appraisal? What should be a problem, what has been a problem, has faded. Sure it will appraise. Why would it not? It’s what the market will bear.

Wow. You look at your partner, she looks at you. The all knowing, I-can’t-keep-going-through-this is at the very curl of her lip. We want this one. We want the house, the school district, the community. We love this neighborhood. WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO?

How to advise these folks? How to make this an easier, more transparent event?

Remember when you bought that present for your son on eBay? You knew he would love it. You knew you would get it for him. And you did. You waited for the auction to be close to the end. You put your bid in and got overbid. You rolled your eyes and put a higher bid in. You got overbid again. You got mad at the computer. You killed the keyboard with a more aggressive bid. You got it! You thought, “Take that, you other bidders! Look out. I’m getting this for my son!” Satisfaction.

That’s how you can also get the property you want. Watch it unfold and go for it. No guessing what it will take. No going over the comps to your disgust. No second guessing if the other folks will go higher and by how much. You take control.

You register for the auction, you load your certified check with the minimum you can bring in. You pick up the bidder’s paddle and you bid.

You watch to see who else is here for this one. Who will be bidding? Can they spend more than you? Are they pre-approved for more? You’re going for blood here. This is your house. This is your neighborhood. This is your family’s future. “Don’t mess with me,” you think…

The auctioneer begins the chant. No one is bidding. You bid/it gets overbid/you bid/it gets overbid/you bid/it gets overbid/you bid. Slam. You got it. OMG you think, we did it. We did it.

Yes, there were a few moments of stress in this scenario. But nothing like the days and weeks of searching and writing offers and losing properties.

This is the transparent way to buy property. You know everything that’s going on. You decide how to participate. You get excited about the possibility of getting the place you want. And then you get it. Or you choose not to because the price goes out of whack and you think, “This really is crazy.” But you know what it took. It’s no different than that present your son loved from eBay.

It’s called transparency. It’s called auction. You call all the shots. You decide. You get it. You’re satisfied either way.

Wendy Bauman is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader for RealEstateAuctions.com in Alameda County, California. Contact her for more information about all the great benefits of auctions, or about Alameda County auctions specifically, by calling her at 510-858-0005 or emailing WBauman@RealEstateAuctions.com.

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Blog author Steve Neuenschwander is a Business Development Executive in Thurston, Mason and Kitsap counties, WA for RealEstateAuctions.com

I learned a lot about the process of starting a real estate business in Washington State the last few weeks.  While I was really only a bystander watching RealEstateAuctions.com get up and running on Washington’s west side, it was truly a red tape experience.  Just image what the corporate office staff, the regional director and especially our designated broker experienced.  Being from the capital I participated a little as far as checking up on the process with the state and the real estate licensing office.  Once we got all the ingredients in place the process ticked off like clockwork – just like baking a cake.  But in the end we are off and running, competing with the rest of the states as we solidly plant our feet in the auction process.  Here is a little of how it went.

On Wednesday we finally received both the interim business real estate license as well as our Team Leaders receiving their active interim licenses.  It only got better.  Thursday we were able to become fully functional with our MLS and we are now ready, willing and able to practice our trade.  You would think for the first week that would be quite an accomplishment; but, our able TL from Pierce County, Karen Call,  didn’t want to wake up Saturday morning with grass growing under her feet.  So she went out Friday and contracted our very first auction property (I will leave that story for her to tell soon. I already hear that there’s a blog post in the making, so watch this space!).  Yep, in less than 26 hours from activation she sealed the deal.  Not sure if that is a record; but hey, it certainly should be close.  Now it is up to the rest of us to follow in her footsteps and bring more properties to our first auction – sometime around mid-September.  Way to go Karen!!

Steven Neuenschwander is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader in Western Washington State for RealEstateAuctions.com. For more information about opportunities on his local team, or for Thurston County auctions, Mason County auctions and Kitsap County auctions,  contact Steven at 360-402-4130 or SNeuenschwander@RealEstateAuctions.com.

Continue reading »]]> Through real estate laws and tradition, multiple offers always lead to buyers being forced to bid on a house without any real point of reference beside the list price which may or may not be accurate.

As a real estate professional in the Wake County and Triangle area of North Carolina, I have encountered situations where the above scenario has played out numerous times over the years.

The question I always ask myself is “Who really benefits in these circumstances?”

In the latest such scenario my buyer made an offer to purchase and was informed within one hour of 15 other offers on this property. I had to force the listing agent to serve us official notice of the multiple offers along with a deadline for highest and best offers.

As we all know, any market is driven by how much buyers are willing to pay for subject items. For this reason I fail to see how blind bidding presents any benefit to a buyer or seller.

My client really wanted the house but was not really willing to offer more than the list price in case she ended up agreeing to pay way more than anyone else was willing to pay.

This unfolded rather like an informal auction where the initial offer was 73 percent of list price, rising to 100 percent of the list price in a series of increases over the time allowed. The difference was whether the 15 other offers were real or not. No one knew what the other buyers were offering and thus my buyer did not want offer more than 100% of the list price.

I firmly believe my client would have outbid the competition had she known what she was up against. This belief of mine is based on the fact that at first she was not willing to consider paying 100 percent of the list price but during the series of conversations we had, a realization set in.

Once RealEstateAuctions.com takes residence in Wake County, I hope to see less and less of these situations. Instead, we’ll see properties being sold to the true highest bidder in a transparent setting.

Goodluck Billingham is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader in Wake County, North Carolina for RealEstateAuctions.com. More information about the topic of this blog, opportunities on his local team and Wake County auctions in general can be obtained by calling Goodluck at 919-827-8098 or emailing him at GBillingham@RealEstateAuctions.com. 

Continue reading »]]> The other day, I posted a link to a blog written by a colleague here at RealEstateAuctions.com (Fellow Realtors Ask .. How do Real Estate Auctions Work?) in a LinkedIn group.  Within a few hours, I received an email telling me that I had violated the rules of the group.  To investigate what I had done, I attempted to log in to the group only to find that I had also been kicked out of the group.  I guess there are no three strikes in LinkedIn groups.

What happened?  How was sharing information a violation?  This group is supposed to be a real estate education group.  Informing other agents about real estate auctions seems like something that would be valuable education.

I have to wonder if this is an “us” vs. “them” thing?  As we do real estate auctions, maybe they only see us as competition for them?  We advocate selling real estate by auction rather than the traditional method, as it is a more transparent and expedient process.  But we are NOT always competing with them.  We can certainly collaborate with them.

In many instances, a listing agent and a RealEstateAuctions.com professional can work together.  Realistically, any listing that an agent feels they are going to lose is a candidate for auction.  Has the listing been on the market for an extreme amount of time?  Is the home priced way over market value?  Is there an unappealing feature of the house?  All of these are candidates for auction.  The listing agent can suggest that they sell the home by auction instead of just letting the listing expire and everyone being frustrated.  If the seller wants to sell at auction, then RealEstateAuctions.com will work with the listing agent to market and get the home sold. In this way, the listing agent will still get some compensation and they will be the hero to their seller.

At the end of the day, we are all Realtors.  We all want to help our clients get their houses sold.

Tim Van Wert is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader in Marion and Lake counties, Florida. Contact him to learn more about the benefits of auctions for buyers and sellers in general, as well as Marion County FL auctions and Lake County FL auctions. Tim can be reached at 352-603-7755 and TVanwert@RealEstateAuctions.com.

Continue reading »]]> Why would a Realtor partner with me to auction one of his /her listings, you ask? The simple answer is so the property has the highest likelihood of selling, and selling quicker. Our massive marketing efforts can put all interested and qualified buyers together on a set date and time. That way the Realtor can have a happy client and still make commissions.

Sellers get impatient, so scheduling an auction date, as the saying goes, allows them to see
the light at the end of the tunnel. There’s nothing worse than a deal falling through because a buyer could not get financing. We require our auction bidders to pre-qualify before they are allowed
to bid. Sellers sometimes get offended by low bids from buyers. In the minimum bid auction process, the seller sets the minimum bid of where the bidding will start.

Sellers tell me all the time that they are not sure how much interest there has been on their property because they never hear from their Realtor unless the Realtor is asking to lower the listing price. At RealEstateAuctions.com, we furnish the seller a weekly report stating and showing all parties that have shown an interest in the property, showing how and where the property is being marketed, names of people who attended open houses and how any and all the marketing dollars were spent. In traditional methods the house sometimes has to be “showroom ready” for months at a time. With auctions, we take 30-45 days to market the property and the open houses are scheduled the last two weeks preceding the auction, so it reduces the time and energy needed to keep everything perfect before selling.

So Realtors, before you say no to partnering up, remember a percentage of an actual sale is better than 100 percent of an expired listing that did not sell.

Gayle Lee is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader in Alachua County, FL for RealEstateAuctions.com. Contact Gayle for information about real estate sales positions on her team and about Alachua County auctions by calling 352-258-5380 or emailing Glee@RealEstateAuctions.com.

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Blog author Carol Johnson, Business Development Executive in Denton County and Colin County, TX for RealEstateAuctions.com

RealEstateAuctions.com is giving away a FREE lake view lot at the June 22, 2013 Dallas Auction.  This amazing lot is 21,344 sq. feet of treed wonder that is approximately 600 yards from the water of Lake Tawakoni.  You must be registered, be an approved bidder* and attend the June 22, 2013 Dallas multi-property auction to be eligible to win. A drawing will be held to decide the winner.

This free lake view lot is a gift from one of my sellers. He’s taken properties to auction before with limited success and he really wants spark some interest with his giveaway.  He told me an issue has been getting people in this country to attend an auction.  Although that is definitely changing as auctions grow more popular all the time, Americans aren’t used to buying real estate this way; we’re a Realtor-type country.  But other countries like New Zealand ,where he’s from, only sell real estate via auctions.

Not only do real estate auctions offer distinct benefits over the traditional method of sale, RealEstateAuctions.com also operates differently, sharing information, systems, advertising strategies, trade secrets that worked or just plain how to do it methods.  That is where we are different.  Combining the auction method of selling creates a transparency that can’t be seen in traditional sales and the team concept shared by our auction-focused Realtors makes this work.  Just imagine if you listed your property today and the first day you had 12 showings, which you could very likely have in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.  The first night you get an offer for full price, with few contingencies.  You, the seller accept the offer and the next morning your agent finds another offer in her email for a higher price….what if they, the buyers had to meet head-to-head at the auction and battle it out?  How much more could you have sold the property for?

The auction process also protects the buyer because it reveals true market value.  What if you were the buyer who showed up late in the afternoon because you had to work, you made your “best guess” offer because the sellers agent told you “we’re getting another offer” but you found out that is sold for less than you were willing to pay.  If it had sold at the auction you could have won!

The RealEstateAuctions.com team concept is one much like you would see with a team of Realtors but we are nationwide. Not only do we share systems and workload, we promote each other’s listings, advertising strategies and dollars and “trade secrets” with each other.  This auction method allows home sellers (How to Sell) and homebuyers (How to Bid) to get the marketing they can’t get with traditional real estate, the information they need to make an educated decision and the best possible price the market will bear.  Contact me today with any questions and see you at the auction on June 22!

Carol Johnson is a Business Development Executive and Team Leader in Denton County and Colin County, TX for RealEstateAuctions.com, “one of the most forward-thinking companies I have run into in just over 20 years in the industry. Combining a real estate sales team atmosphere with the transparency of a real estate auction is just downright genius,” she says. Carol  welcomes any questions about the topic of this blog and encourages buyers or sellers interested in learning more about Texas auctions, Denton County auctions or Collier County auctions to call  her at 469-207-1REA or to email her at CJohnson@RealEstateAuctions.com.

*Approved Bidder means you are pre-approved with our preferred lending partner or provide evidence of CASH available to bid the highest amount you are willing to bid.

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Blog author Benjamin Christian is a Regional Director for RealEstateAuctions.com, covering the entire State of Texas.

RealEstateAuctions.com is hosting open houses for all of the improved properties up for bidding at our June 22nd auction being held at the Dallas Marriott in Las Colinas. We had many interested bidders tour our properties this past weekend and anticipate many more to tour this coming Saturday, June 15. You can go to our website to get more information on the open house schedule.

Remember that as a buyer at an auction you are making a non-contingent cash bid. Therefore, it is important to do your due diligence ahead of time. Take advantage of our open house schedule, bidders information packages and agents’ knowledge of the listings to make your bidding a success.

It is easy to participate in the auction. If you are a buyer and want to make a bid, go to our Dallas auction event website page and register for the event. We have an open house schedule that includes the weekends of June 8^th and June 15^th, but with one weekend of open houses down and only one weekend to go, it means you have just this coming Saturday to make your open house visits. The exact schedule for each property is posted on our website. At the open house, the property catalogue and bidders information packages will be available for you.

If you are a buyer and want to make a pre-auction bid on one of our listings, contact any one of our agents by calling 469-207-1REA. If you are a buyer’s agent, you can register your buyer using our generous Co-op Broker Registration Form to be sure you get the best co-op commission.

So mark your calendar for June 22^nd and be sure to get to the hotel on time! And be sure to make your open house visits this Saturday, June 15th. I look forward to seeing all of you.

Benjamin Christian is a Regional Director for RealEstateAuctions.com covering the State of Texas. For more information about professional opportunities on his team, and for information in general about Texas auctions including the upcoming event on June 22, 2013, call Ben at 512-925-2400 or email him at BChristian@RealEstateAuctions.com.