Do people really bid for web sites? According to Elizabeth K. Scott, LoanList.com's CFO, when the site and related properties were offered for sale in December, about 100 requests for acquisition packages were received from the U.S. and Europe. Scott says the December offer resulted in a six-figure bid for the property.

In addition to realty businesses, EBay also allows owners to directly post property ads under Miscellaneous: Real Estate. Several pages of such listings have recently included a beach-front resort hotel in Cancun for a minimum of $8.5 million and rural properties which start at less than $500. In comparison, of course, leading real estate sites routinely feature hundreds of thousands of listings at one time, and sometimes more.

Online auctions are the inevitable result of a common electronic place where buyers and sellers meet. EBay and other online auctioneers show there is a demand for Internet auctions, a format which seems especially well-suited for marketing online sites and web-based businesses.

Equally interesting is the idea that such auctions are public and thus there is an opportunity to see what the market says about pricing and value. A little checking might suggest a new business opportunity, or reveal that a given site or service is worth far more than many owners might believe.

Alternatively, the marketplace can be a harsh place and there is no assurance that a given item will receive a bid satisfactory to an owner, or any bid at all.

The Common-Sense Mortgage

The latest edition of The Common-Sense Mortgage -- in its second printing since September -- is now available in bookstores online and off. In print for nearly 15 years and widely recognized as the standard consumer guide to real estate financing, it's described by syndicated columnist Robert Bruss as "an encyclopedic, detailed summary of just about everything real-estate investors, agents, lenders and borrowers want and need to know about mortgages."

"On my scale of one to 10," says Bruss, "this superb book rates a 10."

"This continues to be the most, lucid, comprehensive treatment of the subject on the market," says The Real Estate Professional. "If you want solid, reliable information about residential real estate financing, written in a thoughtful, convincing style, this is your source."

For additional information, press here.

Question Of The Week

Q We have received an offer to purchase our home that requires we make "reasonable" repairs if a home inspection unveils a problem. How much money could such repairs cost us?

A "Reasonable" is an elastic term, like "love" or "large." Buyers and sellers may have vastly different definitions when looking at such a word. No less important, what if you dispute some of the home inspector's findings?

As an alternative, limit your repair costs to a stated dollar amount. A broker or attorney can help you develop proper language -- but be aware that you are effectively rejecting the buyer's offer and making a counter-offer.

Weekly Resource