[Bosox Blair]

Guys, this activity on day 1 is not a surprise, is it?

The auction rules say you can only bid in overtime if you previously bid on the lot. So it just plain makes sense to put in as many bids as you can on the first day and let yourself be outbid on them all (probably by others doing the same thing). That allows you to sit back and see how bidding goes on all the lots you are interested in, and you can jump in on any of them in overtime...which is the only time that really counts. The opening bids are all many increments below market value, so nobody should expect their early bid to hold up. This has also happened the last couple years in REA.

But once the lot approaches market value, you can expect there will be almost no more bidding until overtime. I have watched this happen on many lots over the last few years of REA auctions.

I'm not saying 2011 won't be a year for high prices at REA (maybe it will). I'm just saying that day 1 activity from this auction is a useless tool for trying to predict final prices.

Cheers,
Blair