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Youngstown auction and real estate company expands its reach
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: March 26, 2013
As the real estate market continues to show signs of improvement, Youngstown-based ByceAUCTION & REALTY has entered into agreements with three companies in an effort to expand its reach and client services.
In late January the company became an iGavel associate. The New York City-based online auction site is dedicated to selling fine arts, antiques and collectibles to an international audience.
“The agreement allows us to reach a worldwide audience,” said auctioneer, real estate broker and appraiser, Jeff Byce, GPPA, who owns and operates ByceAUCTION & REALTY at 755 Wick Ave.
“We have always focused on selling real estate but we also sell hundreds of thousands of dollars in collectibles and antiques each year for estates and private consignments that we do appraisals for.
“We often encounter items that need an international audience and this gives us a venue to take them to market.”
“We are an online platform for a network of regional auction houses,” said iGavel Inc. Owner, Lark Mason, a former senior vice president with Sotheby’s Chinese Works of Art Department and a director of online auctions for Sothebys.com.
“Dealers and appraisers offer property on the iGavel site on behalf of clients in different geographic regions. By selling these items on iGavel, they cut down on the liability issues and the expense involved with transporting them to an auction house in a large city.
“We offer support to the sellers with social media, marketing and press coordination, using the Internet to promote business,” said Mason, who is featured on the PBS production, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.
“We seek out fine art and antique professionals in good locations who have a superior reputation, knowledge and expertise. Jeff contacted us after doing his research, and we’re happy to have him participate. He is a successful real estate auctioneer and he has held antique auctions on his own,” said Mason. “He is also from an area where we don’t have a lot of associates representing our brand.”
iGavel sales are held in a traditional auction-catalog format entirely online, with several images available for each item. A clear description, complete with the product’s condition, and starting bids are also prepared for the item, which is guaranteed for authenticity and condition.
While bidding takes place online, most sales on iGavel can be viewed “live” at its headquarters at 229 E. 120 St. in New York City or at the associate’s gallery, giving buyers a chance to examine the product first hand.
“The majority of the buyers do not stop by to see the items in person,” said Mason. “Most feel there is enough transparency online.
“Our site is very user-friendly and there is a two-week window for the auction.”
“Northeast Ohio is a very historic place,” said Byce. “We are rich in history and I think sometimes people overlook how many truly valuable items they have stored in their attics or in a collection. We have helped many people attain a lot of money for their items through the ByceAUCTIONGallery on Wick Avenue and we expect this new partnership will help us to be even more competitive.”
In February, ByceAUCTION & REALTY also entered into an aligned broker agreement with Klacik Real Estate, which handles residential and commercial sales in the tri-county area of Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana.
As part of the arrangement, ByceAUCTION & REALTY held a training program for Klacik to better equip agents to present real estate auction and related services to their clients based on a referral system between agencies.
“We thought of Klacik first when we created this program as Michael and David Klacik have been referring auctions to us for several years, both personally and through their agents,” said Byce.
“Jeff Byce is the most successful auctioneer in the area,” said broker Michael Klacik. “We had already been referring him clients that were interested in auction services and we felt the new agreement would benefit us both.”
Located at 87 W. McKinley Way in Poland, Klacik Real Estate has been in business since 1969 and is one of the largest independent real estate agencies in the area. There are 22 sales agents and Klacik said he expects to expand in the future.
“Real estate auctions are becoming more of a viable way to sell property and being able to offer our clients this option is a great marketing tool for us.
“On the other hand if Byce has a property that he feels is not right for auction, he can list it with us. We are actually adding an icon on our site that allows people to go to Byce’s site.”
Klacik said he expects the shale drilling to increase business for realtors in the tri-county area and the agreement with Byce is just another way to prepare to “move into the next decade.”
Real Living Brokers Realty Group in Howland, Ohio also has an aligned broker agreement with ByceAUCTION & REALTY.
“We are hoping to grow our businesses together,” said owner Dan Alvarez. “From our perspective we will be able to enlist auction services to help move some of our slow-moving properties. It is also good to have an auctioneer on hand because we do a lot of estate sales where some of the contents need to be auctioned off.”
Alvarez became familiar with Byce after a few of his clients bought properties that were being auctioned off. Byce will be providing auction services training at Real Living in April during the company’s quarterly meeting.
“We will be able to refer clients to Byce,” said Alvarez, whose company handles properties in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
“The market has been picking up for a variety of reasons, including a slowdown on foreclosures, lower interest rates and oil and gas exploration,” said Alvarez. “A large number of people have moved into this area in the last year or two.”