California land rush
Bargain hunters stir up a bidding frenzy at county land auction in Santa Ana.
By JEFF COLLINS
The Orange County Register
Sun Y. Park dropped her head to her fist, giggling nervously as the price of the West Hollywood apartment building she wanted sailed past $1 million.
Still, she held her bid card high.
"I got One-270, looking for One-275," said Mark Johnson, county property manager-turned-auctioneer as the price passed $1.27 million. "Got One-275, looking for One-280."
Up, up, up the bidding went. Park's hand dropped, but her girlfriend, Michelle Ju, pushed it back up. Then a competing bidder abruptly hung up the cell phone attached to his ear and walked out.
"One-330 going once. One-330 going twice," Johnson said. "SOLD!"
With that, Park of Los Angeles won her prey for $1.33 million at the Orange County Public Administrator/Public Guardian's land auction.
While bidders debated whether the winners cleaned up or got taken to the cleaners, the sale shows that real estate continues to generate heat in Orange County.
More than 200 people signed up to bid, cashier's checks in hand. Close to 300 people crowded into a cavernous Santa Ana warehouse as Johnson mounted a platform and warned buyers not to "get carried away."
"It's one of the biggest (turnouts) we've had," said Nancy Padberg, actingassistant Public Administrator/ Public Guardian. "It'sa feeding frenzy."
Thursday's auction is one of two real-estate sales held each year by this little-publicized agency that settles affairs for residents who can't do it for themselves.
The office liquidates the estates for people without anyone to administer their wills. And it manages assets for others who are mentally incapacitated, using the proceeds to cover living expenses.
Although this agency also auctions off clients' personal property - from cars and furniture to pocket watches - Thursday was just a land grab: three apartment buildings, five homes and two vacant lots.
The crowd was a mix of amateurs and professionals. Some pros travel a circuit, attending foreclosure sales, tax-lien sales and estate sales across California.
But Frank Perez, 49, noticed an auction notice on a Wildomar home down the street from him and decided to come and bid on it.
"I'm pretty new at this," he said. "I might fix it up, put renters in there. I might live there myself."
He didn't get the home.
Real-estate agents Chris Vega and Ruben Gutierrez noted before the auction began that the properties had appreciated since county appraisers set minimum bids.
"If they sell for that, I'll take a couple," Vega said.
"I'll take them all," Gutierrez added.
But only one property sold for the minimum.
Kim Nguyen, 36, of Seal Beach left the auction after seeing an Apple Valley apartment building sell for $323,000 - $83,000 more than she planned to pay.
That's more than neighboring buildings go for, Nguyen said.
"To bid like that is just crazy," said Nguyen, a loan officer and real-estate investor.
"I don't know what's with these people. They're nuts," added Paul Mies, an appraiser who watched an Orange fourplex sell for well above what he said were prices for neighboring properties.
But Fernando Contreras, 35, of San Juan Capistrano believes he got that fourplex for a bargain, paying $870,000 for a building likely to draw up to $4,800 in rent each month.
"I think sometimes you get a really good deal," said Contreras, a mortgage officer.
Sales like this one are scarce. Rising home values create enough financial cushion to settle unpaid debts without a forced sale.
Foreclosures are at a 13-year low, according to DataQuick, which tracks real estate. And tax-lien sales have dwindled in recent years.
Only one of the eight parcels being auctioned off in the county treasurer's annual tax-lien auction Wednesday has a house on it.
"In the last three years, we have not had one home make it to the auction block," said Renee Jenkins, auction supervisor for the Treasurer-Tax Collector's Office.
Meanwhile, Park pondered her decision to pay $1.33 million for the West Hollywood apartment building. An investor and escrow officer, she set a $1.3 million budget - but went over her limit by $30,000.
"I hope I make money, but I don't know," she said. "I'm sure I can sell it for the same price."
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