The word auction is the new buzzword for real estate in the new century. Virtually overnight, companies such as Priceline.com, Realestate.com, Finet.com (with HomeSeekers) and Homebid.com are re-packaging the auction as the consumer-friendly way to get a loan or find a home on-line.

Now Kennedy-Wilson, Inc., an international real estate brokerage and auction company, is closer to launching eKWIC.com, its real estate brokerage and home auction site. The firm has just signed a letter of intent with Guidance Solutions, an Internet system integrator to create the site.

Through its strategic partnership, Kennedy-Wilson plans to leverage Guidance's technical and creative core capabilities on the Internet to establish "the premiere real estate marketing and auction site."

"We believe the eKWIC.com service will transform the real estate buying and selling process by making it more efficient and accessible than ever before," says Chairman and CEO William J. McMorrow.

That is identical to the statement made by Kevin Hickey, president and CEO of Homebid.com, when he said that home auctions will revolutionize the real estate industry.

On-line auctions will be the name of the game, but eKWIC.com and Homebid.com plan different business models.

Kennedy-Wilson plans to take its conventional business and put it on-line. The site will concentrate on commercial property bids and plans to add residential properties later. These properties will come from listing brokers and from private individuals. On the commercial side, the e.KWIC.com service will provide potential investors with access to regional, national and international properties. On the residential side, buyers should find homes that range from entry level condominiums to multi-million dollar estate homes.

On Homebid.com, the emphasis is residential. Buyers make bids for government or private insurer-held properties through brokers. Soon, Homebid.com will offer broker-represented homes for which consumers can bid directly. Homebid.com is actively working with brokers to encourage them to hold home auctions for their listings as an alternative means of marketing.

Jim Peterson, executive vice president of Kennedy-Wilson is spearheading the eKWIC.com project. Impressed with the quick changes posed by the Internet, he is optimistic about the quality of auction services that will be offered. "I've learned don't ever say never. I thought for our business that tours of properties would be unbelievably expensive, but we'll be able to say that real time digital video is definitely going to be part of our system. It may not be used for every property but it will come up with the system."

Kennedy-Wilson, which plans to debut the site mid-summer 1999 is self-financing the on-line project, but may seek venture capital once the site is launched. The company will pursue an aggressive marketing campaign to drive brokers and investors and buyers to the site by going after the commercial real estate market.

"We are not going to market to the masses, like AOL or Yahoo. We are marketing to the commercial real estate brokerage industry and the investor buyer and seller community. It is more targeted approach. We'll be doing a lot of on-line emails, advertising and we will use the conventional marketing means - direct mail and ads in trade journals. We'll be able to tie in linkage with financing, title, escrow companies to market ourselves and those strategic alliances," explains Peterson.

Peterson believes that the American public is ready for commercial and residential auctions.

"I think the American consumer has become comfortable with the auction and bidding process. We've always been an auction/bid people, and with the Ebays and Amazon auctions, people are becoming comfortable buying over the Internet. We're seeing people buy cars and other large ticket items," says Peterson.

"I think real estate is gong to follow that process also. We're not going to be like the stock industry, where overnight the industry moved on-line, but there is definitely a place for auction as a means of transacting properties on-line."

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