EDMONTON - Norm Edelmann is selling his family’s five revenue homes, not through a Realtor — nor through any “sale by owner” agency.

He has posted the property on the Internet and is soliciting bids.

“Ninety per cent of the time, a Realtor makes sense,” Edelmann says. “In a unique situation, this makes sense.”

He believes the property, on 150th Street north of 87th Avenue, must be targeted to particular prospects.

So he is saving the cost of a Realtor because “I don’t know how they would get to the right target market.”

Bidding lets the right price be discovered through market competition, he says. A Realtor would struggle to set a list price because nothing comparable has been sold.

Edelmann, with experience in computer software development and marketing, created a website at www.edmontondevelopment.com to describe the property and the process — with downloadable bid forms.

Then he sent letters, faxes and e-mails to commercial Realtors, investors, developers and builders, inviting them to visit his site.

In one week, “from under 1,000 prospects, I have had 70 downloads of tender submission forms,” Edelmann says.

When bids close Tuesday, he will pick the winner or winners — and pay a commission to any Realtor who brought him a winning bidder.

The five houses were gradually acquired since 1972.

Edelmann’s father, the late Eugene Edelmann, founded Bon Ton Bakery and moved it in 1960 to its present location at 8720 149th St.

“He started buying houses near the store in the early ’70s, originally to store flour and shortening,” Edelmann says.

“Then he moved his baker into one of the houses.”

The family sold the bakery in 1999 but kept the four houses, and bought a fifth house in 2002.

Now Edelmann thinks the total package — three adjoining houses on one side of the street and two houses on the other side — is ripe for redevelopment as walk-up apartments or condominiums.

He is confident that the property can be rezoned because the area already has mixed uses, three of the lots back onto the 149th Street commercial strip, and “the current city council supports infill development.”

Although separate bids are required for each of the five properties, Edelmann expects them to be sold in one or two parcels. Each of the 50-foot by 150-foot lots has been appraised at $300,000. Edelmann says he won’t sell any for less than $230,000.

Source:

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=e5a09933-977d-4124-90f1-a7c0684ff9e6&k=50940