Photo courtesy of Sullivan & Sullivan Auctioneers
Marianne Sullivan
President, Sullivan & Sullivan Auctioneers
Age: 61
Industry experience: 39 years
Bad loans by banks translate into discounted buying opportunities on distressed assets by the next generation of buyers, and an uptick in foreclosure and public auction business. After familiarizing herself with the real estate auction business at Paul E. Saperstein Co. for 17 years, Marianne Sullivan opened a Cape Cod-based auction house, Sandwich-based Sullivan & Sullivan Auctioneers, in 2007 and its sibling company, Patriot Auctioneers, in 2009. Combined, the companies oversee more than 2,000 auctions annually.
Q: Which piece of your business is seeing the most growth and what does that say about the current real estate environment?
A: We specialize in commercial, residential, industrial: anything in foreclosure or a municipal auction, and we are seeing the uptick in commercial. We had an amazing third quarter and had two really big third-party sales. We sold $35 million in third-party sales that closed in the third quarter in the commercial market. That comprised two major auctions. One was a new client and a referral from an attorney that I worked with for over 30 years, and the other is a private money lender who I’ve been working with forever.
A lot of times, the sales don’t even end up happening, but they were something the market was looking for. Commercial is a lot of the activity. Everybody is talking about commercial coming to a head fairly soon, and I think it’s here. Institutions and private lenders are ready. We expect to be much busier. We’re focusing on potential increase in commercial [auction] volume, and we’re shifting our marketing to be creative and diverse, and offer marketing that has the greater regional and national exposure that most commercial properties will need. We see exciting challenges ahead and we’ll be testing our team as we go. We’re going to increase spending on different marketing venues for our clients.
Q: How do your fee structure and incentives work?
A: In each case, we start with a blank drawing board depending upon the client and their expectations for services. Basically, if we sell it to a third party, we would earn a commission. If the bank is completely taken out in full, the commission can increase. If we have a sale to a third party and the client is satisfied [financially] but not completely taken out, that can be a different fee. If the client takes the property back and it does not sell, that’s just a minimum fee. We need incentives and partnerships in order to sell the property. That’s the first conversation you have with a client: What are you looking to do? Sometimes the client just says, “We want to clear title and buy it back.” Sometimes they say they absolutely want to sell it to a third party.
Q: What’s the range of typical marketing plans?
A: It depends. For example, we had a Cambridge property [at 793-805 Cambridge St.] that was a potential development between Kendall and Central squares, and that was in a newly-zoned area so I knew there would be local buyers and investors that were very familiar with the new zoning opportunities. In West Roxbury, we had a 70-unit apartment project at 189-197 Gardner St. that was newly completed. That was a national marketing campaign. We had over three months’ preparing. We set up a deal room and we worked as an advisor to the multiple attorneys we were dealing with. Because it was such a great asset, there were a lot of people involved. We exceeded their expectations not only in price, but in the services we provide. My main goal is that the client is happy. My reputation for almost 40 years means more than just a paycheck.
Q: What is the specialty of your Patriot Auctioneers business?
A: They offer the same services, however, Sullivan & Sullivan seems to do more commercial, whereas Patriot also has contracts with national third-party auction vendors, which is unique in this market. We are really their boots on the ground. These are companies that are similar to Auction.com that market and prepare for online auctions, and have to have boots on the ground to conduct auctions in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They need us to perform the actual foreclosure on-site.
We go through a tremendous amount of vetting and compliance. It took us a few years to put it together. There are very few states left where foreclosure auctions are actually held on the site. Texas calls it Super Tuesday and they hold them on the courthouse steps of every county in the state [on the first Tuesday of every month].
Q: How has the typical on-site auction process changed?
A: We used to go out with a clipboard and a pen and register bidders on-site. Then we’d bring it back to the office. Now we have a digital database where we register all of our bidders on our own apps we’ve developed, and the office watches simultaneously. The information is all real-time. We track all of the bidding and it’s instantly updated to our database and report it back to our clients.
Sullivan’s Collection of Five Favorite Collectable Cars:
- 1931 Ford Model A with a Murray body
- 1946 Plymouth Super Deluxe yellow convertible
- 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 convertible with a Rocket engine
- Red 1960 Cadillac Eldorado convertible
- 1986 Mercedes SL-560
