Attend an Auction in Your Pajamas

By: JON PRIOR
July 10, 2009 10:25 AM CST

Seven minutes. A keyboard, a bowl of cereal and $100. That’s all a buyer needs to have a shot at a discounted condo on iBidcondo.com.

On July 27th, an online auction will open for a sleek condominium in the Beat condos on the south side of Dallas, TX. A seat at the eBay-like auction room costs $100, but the last property went for $86,840. The winner probably fell out of his or her computer chair, because the Austin condo was valued at $690,000.

So, who’s crazy enough to let a property go for a fraction of the valued price?

Developers approached iBid founder Eugene Marchese, a developer himself until the banks cut off his funding. He put his remaining property online, charged seat fees, sold the condos at a fraction of the price and kept the seat sales.

The actual money from the sale goes Dallas-based charities, which are yet to be determined. Developers hope to sell 2,800 seats per auction, but for the Austin sale, only 1,000 were sold.

That said, developers still unload their property, help out a charity and pocket revenue from seat sales. Not to mention cause a lucky buyer to choke on their cereal.

Write to Jon Prior.