RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE

Shawntana Sales: Auction Marketing Services of Irvine gaveled away 53 condominiums for Shawntana Development Co. of Newport Beach in an event that Shawntana principal Bart Hansen called a big success.

It was Shawntana’s first try at an auction and Hansen said he was pleased both with the crowd--more than 600 people--and the result.

“We achieved what we wanted to,” he said. “We moved a lot of units and the principals of volume buying gave the customers a good deal and let us sell at discount because we eliminated the cost of carrying all those properties.” The sales pace at the two Shawntana projects has slowed dramatically in the recession, falling below two units a month this winter. The auction saved the company tens of thousands of dollars in interest and marketing costs, he said.

Bonnie Benton, a Laguna Niguel marketing analyst who did price consulting on the auction for AMS, said that post-auction questionnaires filled out by successful bidders listed excitement, anticipation and the below-market prices as the things they liked most about the process.

The sale brought Shawntana $7.8 million in revenue. Prices ran from $81,000 for a one-bedroom, one-bath condo at the Los Portillos complex in Rancho Santa Margarita--18% below the previous retail price of $99,000--to $254,000 for a three-bedroom, two-bath, highly decorated model that previously listed for $329,900 in Shawntana’s Cameray Pointe complex in Laguna Niguel.