AUCTION FIRMS MAKING FAST BUCKS FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR CLIENTS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992                   TAG: 9202220131
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: E-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHARLYNE H. McWILLIAMS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
AUCTION FIRMS MAKING FAST BUCKS FOR THEMSELVES AND THEIR CLIENTS
Auctioning isn't real estate's last resort anymore.
Jim Woltz, who owns Woltz & Associates, a Roanoke auction firm and real estate brokerage, said his company is busier than ever because of the increase demand for auction.
"The necessity to convert property into cash has an interesting twist on the economy," he said.
Woltz, who deals mostly with commercial and industrial property, farms and raw land, said people are realizing the competitive bidding process often brings higher dollars than the traditional process of putting property on the market and waiting for a buyer. Woltz's sales currently are totaling millions of dollars a year, adding he's intentionally vague so competitors won't know how well he's doing. Business is so good now that Woltz is moving into a new office and expects to have a total of eight people on his staff in six months.
Woltz said more investors and banks also are realizing that auctioning is a quicker way of getting their money. But even when the economy recovers, Woltz expects his business to stay active because of the brokerage side of his business.
Ed Hall of Hall Associates Inc. in Roanoke also saw increasing interest in auctioning, to the point that earlier this month he bought Cole Brothers Auction Inc.
"I believe more and more real estate will be auctioned in the future," he said.
It's not that easy to just go into the auction business. Woltz, who started his first auctioning company, Virginia Land and Auction Co., in 1977, said it takes awhile to learn the pitfalls of planning auctions.
It takes anywhere from 45 days to four months for the three-person company to prepare for an auction. Woltz is now working on selling 1,650 acres in 60 parcels along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB