I just spoke with a very experienced REO guy who went to the auction and stayed for the whole thing. He had researched every property and had a realistic expectation of what they would sell for in the current market. sdrealtor, your friend sounds like he is full of shit. If the houses could have been sold through the retail channel at anywhere near retail prices, they would have been.
The reason banks don’t like auctions is that they are an admission of failure. They are just a very quick accurate way to see how big or small that failure is. I understand why they weren’t happy and may not want to do this again. I just don’t think that:
prices are going to improve with the number of comingforeclosures coming.
Banks are going to have much choice. Once regulators start saying, “your balance sheet looks like ass,” banks start selling. This may take a while to foment.
