John Rosenthal makes auctions a first-resort real estate market

By SARAH DAVIDSON

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Most Realtors sell houses. John Rosenthal sells towns. And timberland. And just about any other kind of property.
    
His real estate auction company, Realty Marketing Northwest, is among the country’s leading real estate auction firms.
    
Most people think of realty auctions as a last resort when a property or house won’t sell, but Rosenthal said that’s not the case. Most of the properties he sells, from large portions of a forest to a company town with 150 homes, are on the market for the first time.
    
“It’s very efficient,” he said, citing that he closes on 98 percent of the attempted sales.
    
Rosenthal’s company conducts two large oral auctions per year in which many sellers can present their properties to many different buyers. The company produces a high-quality printed catalog displaying all the properties in an easy-to-read format before the actual auction.
    
“Other companies will have one seller and 20 properties,” he said. “We’ll have 75 properties from 20 different sellers.”
    
Typically, the auction takes place at a hotel, and sometimes plays out like one would imagine any auction, with bidders and an auctioneer. Mostly, though, bids come in sealed envelopes. Many properties have a reserve (minimum price) and properties sell to the highest bidder above the reserve price.
    
Realty Marketing Northwest also started doing big auctions in the southeast about 10 years ago, primarily for timber clients. Rosenthal said he’s happy with the expansion, and that it, along with the rest of the business, has survived the tough economic times.
    
Much of Rosenthal’s success is due to his discretion in choosing properties to put on the market, and designing a creative marketing strategy for each property. If it’s obvious that a property won’t sell because it’s in bad condition or the seller is unrealistic about price, Rosenthal is honest with clients, telling them it is not ready for auction.
    
“The toughest part is being honest,” Rosenthal said. “I don’t want a bunch of properties that I can’t sell.”
    
Although the company is surviving the economic downturn, Rosenthal acknowledges that he hasn’t been unaffected by it.
    
“We’re seeing a lot more people wanting to sell and a lot fewer wanting to buy,” he said.
    
But Rosenthal is happy with the business he started; he’s doing something he “never thought he’d do with a degree in city planning and urban design.”
    
He got the idea to start a real estate auction company while he was working as the U.S. northwest real estate manager for International Paper Company. He came across an auction ad for northwest properties.
    
He got the catalog, called up the company, and told them that he wanted more information, but that he wasn’t looking to buy. He met with the owner, who tried to solicit him. While Rosenthal was watching the auction video, he said, “a bell went off.” He quit his job and started Reality Marketing Northwest in 1987.
    
Rosenthal is a past president of Congregation Beth Israel.