Method of advertising, marketing and auctioning real estate
OwnerWilliam Langeinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of advertising, marketing, and auction sale of real estate properties and more particularly a method of handling last minute online bidding extensions are described. An Internet website has been designed for this purpose such that prospective customers or interested bidders may view property specific photographs and other details with respect to the property on property profile pages. In the electronic bidding format, as long as at least one bid is made within an established bid period before the deadline, the bidding can be extended for a pre-determined amount of time.
Claims16
An internet website for the auctioning of real property wherein;
- (a) the website includes a private, password protected, auction events section and a public auction events section;
- (b) real property or properties for auction are listed by sellers and posted on a property profile page, containing the specified bid deadline for that particular property, photographs maps, government reports, tax information, plot plans and financing information;
- (c) interested bidders register by completing a brief data sheet and log-in with a specific username and password, view or download documents related to the property in question, including information such as current highest bid, minimum bid increment, contact information of the property representative who is responsible for conducting tours and viewing of that specific property, and other detailed information on the property;
- (d) the website retaining and processing media codes when prospective bidders access the website through an advertised URL, and the website generating cost per respondent information, including the number of hits, the percentage of total hits, the cost per hit, the total registrations broken down between principles and brokers, and the ultimate cost per registration for each individual advertisement in real time as auction events progress;
- (e) the website organizing individual auctions according to a hierarchy of auctions grouped into property portfolios, and those portfolios grouped into all current auctions;
- (f) the website having a search capability for prospective bidders;
- (g) the website having a bid deadline extension feature enabling the auctioneer to extend a deadline based on bidder activity and the proximity of a bid to the bid deadline;
- and
- (h) the website enabling the auctioneer to control the visibility of bidder information, including bidder identity, bid amount, and the date and time a particular bid was made.
A method for conducting a real estate auction via a communications network such as an Internet website comprising the steps of;
- (a) a property seller or agent accessing a property auction website using a secure user identification and password;
- (b) the property seller or agent uploading specific real estate property sales information regarding a property for sale to the website;
- (c) the website, at the direction of the property seller or agent making said listing information available to prospective bidders;
- (d) the website receiving bids comprising sealed and electronic formats until a designated bid deadline;
- (e) the website determining if a bid deadline extension event occurs;
- and
- (f) the website determining the highest bid received;
- and awarding the property to the highest bidder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.