Only a few of the 50 properties offered had final bids above what the auctioneer sought as opening bids… at a real estate auction Saturday morning at the Myrtle Beach Marriott Resort at Grande Dunes, . A number were withdrawn because they had no bids at all and others likely won’t make it to the closing table.

• The auctioneer refused to even consider a $1 million bid on a 7.5-acre Myrtle Beach property with a 3,700-square-foot house. The property was estimated to be worth $10 million and the auctioneer was looking for a $4.5 million opening bid.

• Except for two condominiums near Coastal Carolina University, sellers didn’t have to accept the final bids. The two condominiums, two bedroom/two bathroom units in a building on S.C. 544, were sold as absolute, meaning sellers agreed to accept the final bids before the bidding began. The sellers got $70,000 and $71,000 for the units, $5,000 to $10,000 above what was bid for two other condominiums in the same building.

Bidding opened to a crowd of a couple hundred, at least, but most ended up as lookers, not buyers.

• The auctioneer said he expected more activity at Saturday’s auction from a variety of buyers, but what he saw was a roomful of hesitant buyers and sellers.

• Properties that got no bids included several multimillion dollar homes in Grande Dunes and two vacant, oceanfront lots in Atlantic Beach.

Source: Steve Jones, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC

BOTTOM LINE ADVICE FOR OWNERS: If you want to sell, then price your property right. If you don’t have to sell, then keep it. If you’re not living in it, then rent it out.

As home sellers realize how much they’ll have to drop their price to sell - or how long it will take to sell - some are choosing to rent out their properties instead, leaving renters with more options and the ability to be picky about their price in some areas.

Rental agency managers say rents for the most part are continuing to tick upward in price, but in some pockets, like annual condominium rentals and three-bedroom homes, rents are falling.

Unlike home prices, no one tracks long-term rental rates on the Grand Strand.

• However, rental agents say that in some Carolina Forest neighborhoods where there is an oversupply of three-bedroom homes on the rental market… rental prices are dripping.

• Some condominium complexes, like Windsor Green, are also seeing rents fall. Three-bedroom units were renting for between $950 and $995 a month a year ago, but in July six owners dropped the price to $850.

• One-bedroom condos are in the highest demand, and rental rates have not fallen on those.

• Some single-family home neighborhoods such as Hillsborough have all their units rented, and rates are holding steady.

More Realtors are seeing clients pull their home from the market and choose to rent. They do not want to rent it. But they can’t sell. They are frustrated. They feel like they have come down so low in order to sell.

Source: Jenny Burns, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC