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I had this day marked on the calendar for quite some time. July 19th, 2008 Marty Loveday & Associates were to auction off a couple pieces of property located off Wears Valley Rd. One was a 62+/- acre tract with a house, barn, and approximately 395′ of road frontage on Wears Valley Rd. The land was to be sold as a court ordered auction from the Headrick Estate (NOTE: Correction – According to Peggy Headrick it was a “court ordered divorce sale”), so any bids would still need to be approved by the Sevier County courts come next week. The acreage is located between the Smoker Holler development and Wilderness Mountain.

With the selling of 25 acres on Wears Valley Road next to the TN State Bank just a few days prior for $2,325,000 ($93,000 per acre) I was not sure how the 62 acres would fare. They were two distinctly different properties. The 25 acres has city water, in an already thriving commercial zone, and had a sign announcing a future grocery store and outparcels on the land. This had brought a lot of commotion to the citizens of Wears Valley, wondering if a Food City was coming to town. Similarly, on Newport Highway (411) next to Chambers Market, land has been cleared for a “Food Country” which is a division of Food City dealing with more rural markets. The thought around town was something similar was coming to Wears Valley. I was thinking the 62 acres would bring between $10,000 and at very most $15,000 per acre.

Bidding started off with Marty Loveday calling out $1,000,000. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop. It was evident the buyers at the auction were not going to pay any outlandish prices today as the auctioneer called out $750,000 and still things went silent. Finally, the price was lowered to $500,000 and there were signs of life, finally some activity. The initial bid was $500,000, followed by a bid of $550,000 by Jerry Miller, co-owner of Cove Mountain Real Estate & Rentals. Bidding slowed from here as increments were increasing by $10,000 to $25,000 up to $600,000 where the increments got smaller and smaller, down to about $5,000 increases in bids. The final bid was $645,000 to Pete & Shirley Maples, who own Maples Ridge and I believe distant kin to Peggy Headrick (NOTE: I have since been informed Peggy Headrick is not related to Pete Maples nor Ben Reams who was the winning bidder for the “rock house”). It was good to see the family farm stay in the family as it had been for generations. At $10,403 per acre, the property brought what I considered to be in the lower range of its value, but still within the price I thought it would sell for.

Court Ordered Auction Stone House on Wears Valley Road on about 1 acreThe next property up for sale was a 2,100 square foot stone home on approximately one acre. Prior to auction, they had stated it was appraised for $300,000 which means very little these days. Once again, bidding was slow. Once the price got down to $50,000 someone finally made a bid. Slowly but surely, it inched its way up to $150,000 at this point I was ready to make a bid, ready to go up to $175,000. Bids were being increased in small $5,000 increments and it eventually sold for $215,000. Not a bad deal (in my opinion) considering the home had been completely remodeled and had a very pleasant exterior. Since this was a court ordered auction the typical 10% buyers premium was not applied to the sales price.

The next auction, set for 12:00 noon that same Saturday was 2 parcels zoned C-2 adjacent to Lyon Springs Road off Wears Valley Road. These two tracts of land were sold approximately one year ago through auction. My family had bought a 2.6 acre parcel also zoned C-2 at this same auction on the other side of Lyon Springs Road with frontage on Wears Valley Rd for $156,200, so it was of interest how much these two parcels would bring. The owners had paid $187,000 for both tracts at the previous auction approximately one year ago. They had a bid of $85,000 each tract and ending up selecting both parcels ($170,000 + a 10% buyers premium) for a total of $187,000. These properties had been listed on the MLS for $199,000 each prior to going to auction.

This auction was not an absolute auction, so I was thinking there was a good chance they would not meet the reserve. It turned out my hunch was correct. Bidding began at $50,000 and inched its way up to $95,000 where the bidding stopped. The 10% buyers premium did apply to these properties and they were buyers choice, so the bidder had the option of purchasing either lot for $95,000 or both. Marty Loveday, who had an ownership stake in the property, had to call his partners to see if they would accept the $95,000 bid. It turned out they did not, so the property ended up not selling at auction. Not to knock Marty Loveday, because I think they are a good auction company, but it is telling they would not put up their own property for absolute auction – but rather have a reserve. It gives an indication of the market and the bargain hunting that is prevelant in the area.

I was hoping for a high price obviously, as it would make the value of my family’s land worth that much more. I was not disappointed with the $95,000 for one lot bid, but was hoping for higher. It is probably a good thing it did not end up selling for that price, meaning the owner wanted more and was not willing to part with the land for $95,000 each lot. Both lots had 125′ of road frontage each and one had 1.86 acres while the other was 1.79 acres. Bidding (not including buyers premium) was at about $52,778 per acre. After 10% buyers premium this would have equated to about $58,056 per acre – my family had paid just over $60,000 per acre for our tract of land.

 Prices in Wears Valley have certainly not experienced a drastic increase within the past year and have stayed fairly flat. The price of the land next to TN State Bank (and an all cash deal for $2,325,000) certainly opened a few eyes around the area though! Up next on my auction calendar are auctions both through McCarter Auction.

One is the “Ballroom Auction” held in the Civic Center where several properties are offered up for auction and then later in October, a 125 acre farm in New Center divided into 5 acre tracts. This auction is of particular interest because the land has some (soon to be) family ties. The land belonged to the sister of Brooke’s (my fiancee) Papaw. The farm is a gorgeous 125 acre rolling farm off Thomas Cross Road to be divided into 5 acre tracts. You can definitely expect me to be there for this one. I am looking to buy a small acreage tract to build on in the future and I love the rolling acreage of New Center and having the ties of the land being in the family makes it that much more sentimental.

Update July 31, 2008: Peggy Headrick has e-mailed me and helped clarify a couple things for me. First, the auction was not in any way related to an “estate” sale, rather it was a “court ordered divorce sale”. In addition, I was mistaken when I wrote that I believe Peggy Headrick was distant kin to Pete or Shirley Maples. I was also informed that she is not related to Pete Maples nor Ben Reams (who purchased the ”rock house”). I want to thank her for taking the time to read my blog and offer the updates and corrections to my blog.