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The sale will be handled by Tranzon, the international auctioneers with an office in Portland. Spokesman Mike Carey said Thursday, May 15 that the sale will be subject to owner confirmation and is not a foreclosure or bankruptcy procedure.

The shiny new Footbridge stands in sharp contrast to the skeletal Wakeag Landing project to its south. (File Photo)

The firm plans to advertise regionally and nationally in both print and Internet outlets, he said.

Carey said Belfast Bridge LLC, the owners who planned to turn the former sardine plant into a multi-use complex called Wakeag Landing, have considered an auction of the property throughout the marketing campaign. “They feel they have taken the project as far as they can” Carey said, “and they want to pass it on to someone who will take it into the end zone.”

Though the real estate market is depressed nationally, “There’s a lot of excitement about Belfast,” Carey said. “You’re a small, quirky, funky town and you’re now reinventing yourself again. Now is the time to sell because now is the time to buy.”

The property was listed for $1.5 million before it was purchased by developer Tom Roberts and partners in 2004 and was last listed by a real estate agency for $3.1 million, Carey said.

The owners have not established a minimum price for the auction, he said.

The City Council last month extended the contract rezoning agreement that Roberts reached with the city in 2006 so it would be available to new owners. The agreement calls for construction of condominiums, retail spaces, a marina and boat-repair facility and a dock for local commercial fishermen.

City officials have reported continuing interest in the property by buyers.

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The three-bedroom, two-bath home in a new subdivision off Grammar Road in Sanford was assessed at almost $270,000, and three years ago it might have sold for even more.

But in today’s beaten-down real estate market, the house went into foreclosure before the developer finished construction or even installed a septic system. The mortgage holder, Bangor Savings Bank, held an auction, and in a scene that has been repeated hundreds of times this year in Maine, a small group of investors and would-be homeowners gathered in the rain outside the house last week to bid on the property.

Minutes after Tom Saturley of Tranzon Auction Properties in Portland opened the bidding at $50,000, the house was sold to an investor for $143,500.

These are busy times for those in the real estate auction industry, a business that can be seen as a reverse barometer of the real estate market, with activity rising when the market falls. A wave of foreclosures that has yet to peak is driving an increase in real estate auctions around the state. Several people in the industry say their business is up 20 percent to 30 percent from last year.

For those who are willing to venture into a buying process that requires some research, risk and persistence on the part of the purchaser, auctioneers say these sales can offer attractive opportunities for home buyers. However, some real estate agents caution that the competitive bidding that takes place at auction can also result in buyers getting caught up in the event and overpaying.

In any case, several Maine auctioneers said most of the people buying at auction these days are investors seeking to fix up bargain properties and resell them for profit.

“I’m seeing lots of investors I haven’t seen for two or three years,” said Stefan Keenan, of Keenan Auction Co. in South Portland. “They’re coming out because stuff is on sale, so to speak.”

AUCTIONS OFTEN JUST A FORMALITY

One thing a potential home buyer needs to know when looking at the long listings of auctions in almost any local newspaper these days is that most auctions are little more than legal formalities. They often take place in corporate boardrooms and are attended only by bankers and lawyers, although they are open to the public.

If the bank holding an overdue mortgage is a large, out-of-state corporation, the bank’s usual practice is to bid what it is owed and take possession of the property, according to Keenan. Though anyone could legally bid against the bank, the owners of most homes in the foreclosure process have little equity, so a buyer is unlikely to acquire a home at a bargain price this way.

Although most banks are not interested in being property owners, the larger institutions have what’s known as REO, or real estate owned, divisions that handle the sale of properties acquired through foreclosure. In most cases, the banks commission a real estate agent to market the properties, and they are listed for sale on the Multiple Listing Service.

It is the smaller, Maine-based banks that are more likely to try to speed up this process by holding an auction with the intention of selling the property. These banks may be more familiar with local markets and more flexible in their decisions about how to dispose of properties, Keenan said.

Buyers can tell the difference between an auction intended to sell a property and one that is only likely to result in the bank taking ownership by looking at the marketing effort behind an auction, said Mike Carey, with Tranzon. When banks want to make a sale, they will do more than take out a black-and-white listing in the classifieds. Typically, they hire an auction company to advertise and create informational brochures on the property.

Tranzon, which has 22 offices around the country, typically does about 100 auctions a year in Maine, Carey said. This year, the company has already completed 50.

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All properties to be sold on an AS IS, WHERE IS basis. No representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy of the information contained herewith, and the same is submitted subject to errors and omissions.

Auctioneer: Thomas W. Saturley; ME RE Lic. # 90600017; ME AUC # 757; NH RE Lic. # 11528; NH AC # 2495; VT AC # 057-0002223; MA AU # 2216

Tranzon Auction Properties is a member company of Tranzon, L.L.C. These properties are offered by Tranzon Auction Properties.

If you would like to receive e-mail blasts regarding Tranzon auctions across the nation, please click here.

Tranzon Auction Properties 2 Monument Square, Suite 603 Portland, Maine 04101

The white church constructed in 1839 is directly behind the brick William J. Crosby School, which is NTWH’s Maine headquarters. (Photo by Jay Davis)

It was purchased by NTWH with an intended use as a center for fine arts training, though that program never materialized. John Spalla, director of NTWH, said this week from New York that the building has been “underutilized” in recent years.

“We are definitely trying to hold on to our delightful center in Belfast,” Spalla said, “and we’ll do whatever we need to,” including getting rid of some properties.

Spalla said NTWH is “still raising money” for this summer’s performance classes in Belfast and said it’s “50-50” whether the season will be held.

The former Crosby School on Church Street that is NTWH’s Maine headquarters will definitely be used in September for a writing program for Iraq veterans and in October for bakery training. NTWH sells baked goods through its Web site to help pay for its programs.

Spalla said Brother Rick Curry, founder of NTWH, is on sabbatical this year studying for the priesthood at Washington Theological Union and expects to be ordained a Jesuit priest by the end of the year. Curry has been a Jesuit brother for decades.

Tom Saturley of Tranzon Auction Properties said the church is being sold as part of a foreclosure by Camden National Bank.

A replica of the church’s Gabriel weathervane glistens Tuesday in the sun. The original was sold in 1980 by Emmanuel Baptist Church to a Portland antiques dealer. (Photo by Jay Davis)

The 5,900-square-foot building will be offered at 2:30 p.m. May 7, with inspection dates of April 17 and 24.

In March 2005, Saturley auctioned off two Main Street storefronts during a foreclosure auction involving NTWH. The buildings were purchased for $700,000 by Ed and Judy Hemmingsen, who plan to convert them to a boutique hotel.

NTWH also sold a home on Miller Street and retains a home on Bridge Street that is used by Brother Curry when he is in the city.

The New York-based nonprofit arrived in 1995 in Belfast, after purchasing the William G. Crosby School for $200,000. The group spent a reported $2 million renovating the former high school, turning it into a center for classes in the performing arts for students with handicaps.

The annual showcase of student work has been a popular attraction. The Crosby auditorium has also been used occasionally for other productions, including the 15-Minute Festival.

A bankruptcy when speaking in terms of a foreclosure auction is kind of like a “time out”. It is a stay of execution of the Power of Sale. Debtors have the right to file for bankruptcy protection under federal law, and that is what happened in this case.

What happens next is that there will be a court date or a series of court dates scheduled where there will be an attempt to sort out the debt. The mortgagee will likely ask for relief from stay, in other words they will ask the court to allow them to proceed with the foreclosure sale.

The length of this process will depend on what is going on in the courts and how complicated the debtors finances or debts are. In a recent single asset filing in a similar situation we waited almost a year to the day to complete the sale.

Current Market Conditions Don’t Seem To Have Caught Up with Sellers, While Buyers Think Everything Should Be Deeply Discounted

Much has been made of the impact of the credit crunch on the slowdown of commercial real estate investments. But just as impactful as the lack of available credit right now, is that buyers and sellers have not yet come to terms with the the ‘new reality’ and remain at opposite extremes in terms of pricing, which further exacerbates the current deal paralysis gripping the market.

There is almost no investment real estate market at this time, say industry executives and brokers we surveyed for this story. Some 1031 exchanges are getting done out of necessity to meet tax obligations and some institutional properties are trading due to the flow of foreign capital taking advantage of the depressed dollar but the spread between buyer and seller is far too dramatic for “bread and butter” deals to get done.

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