Property auctions are going, going…going stronger than ever

While large American newspapers are losing readers, cutting staff and scraping by on fewer advertising dollars, they’re expanding in one area–notices of property sales.

These fruits of foreclosures hang heavy in the back pages.

Distressed properties — the growth sector of a troubled economy — are often sold at auction.

Almost $60 billion of property was auctioned last year, and the National

Association of Realtors predicts about 30 percent of all real estate will be auctioned in 2010.

Individual states regulate auctions and auctioneers, but standards vary.  About half have enacted auction and auctioneer licensing statutes, according to Steven L. Good, author and Chairman and CEO of Sheldon Good & Company.

The National Auctioneers Association has posted its Code of Ethics at www.auctioneers.org. Read more »