Berryman Farm owners apply new marketing tool

KERSEY – Auction it, and they will come.

That’s the hope of those involved in marketing and selling lots at Berryman Farm, a master-planned community that would double the size of the town of Kersey.

However, the auction, scheduled for 1 p.m. March 25 at the Platte Valley High School cafeteria in Kersey, isn’t what most people consider an auction.

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“This isn’t a fire sale,´ said Ben Yarbro of Clarity Land Auction LLC, a Loveland-based company in charge of the auction. “A lot of people have the idea that auctions are a last resort and that you’ll be selling things for pennies on the dollar. This isn’t that kind of auction.”

The auction at Berryman Farm will be the first of its kind in Northern Colorado, Yarbro said. Lot Holding Investments LLC owns about two-thirds of the 138 acres at Berryman Farm and has decided to hold the auction as a marketing tool.

“It’s just another marketing idea, as opposed to buying ads, putting up a sales office on site or contracting with a Realtor,´ said Brian Stotts, marketing director for Lot Holding. “It’s new and innovative. We’re excited to see if it works.”

Auctions are becoming a viable way to market and sell real estate nationwide, Yarbro said. In 2003, live auctions generated $200 billion in revenue nationwide, according to the National Auctioneers Association. The fastest growing areas were residential real estate and land and agricultural real estate, which accounted for about 16 percent of the $200 billion.

Clarity Land Auction hopes to attract builders and individuals wanting to build custom homes at Berryman Farm. Yarbro said bidders should expect to pay market value for the lots, although he wouldn’t speculate what that value might be.

“A piece of land is worth what people will pay for it,” he said. “It’s not worth what an appraisal says it’s worth or what it’s listed for.”

The auction will include:

n Three parcels of land to be sold through a sealed-bid process on March 22. The parcels include a 6.4-acre commercial lot bordering U.S. Highway 34, a 3.7-acre lot zoned for light industrial uses and a 3.4-acre multi-family housing lot. Bidders must submit written bids to Clarity Land Auction by noon on March 22.

n Another 29 lots to be auctioned on March 25. Ten of those lots are designated for mixed use – commercial, residential or both. The lots range from 10,000-20,000 square feet. The remaining 19 lots are designated for single-family homes. The lots range from 7,150-14,500 square feet.

The vision

The vision for Berryman Farm started about seven years ago, when Alan and Kathy Berryman decided to turn their 138-acre farm into a master-planned community. Longtime residents of Kersey, the Berrymans were involved in the K-Team, a group that came up with ideas to revitalize the town. From that, the Berrymans said they saw the need for additional civic space, town parks, businesses and homes.

“We feel that if you want something special, it’s up to you as citizens to start it,” Kathy Berryman said.

The farm, which has been in Kathy Berryman’s family since the 1930s, was ideal for development because of its location in the middle of Kersey, a town of about 1,500 residents 10 miles east of Greeley. The Berrymans worked with town officials and residents to create a vision for the master-planned community.

“We sat down with our neighbors and asked, ‘What do you want for your town?'” Kathy Berryman said.

Included in the plans are about 250 homes, a new main street, several small parks, a large community park, civic buildings and businesses.

The residential lots range in size so that large homes can be constructed next to smaller ones. The plan is for the corner lots to have homes with wrap-around porches, much like homes in old Fort Morgan and old Berthoud, Kathy Berryman said.

“We didn’t want cookie-cutter homes,” she said. “It’s different and progressive.”

Hall-Irwin Corp. did the infrastructure and land development for Berryman Farm, then turned it over to Lot Holding, a division of Hall-Irwin that also markets Centennial Crossing in Milliken and Green Spire in Windsor, two other master-planned communities for which Hall-Irwin conducted land development.

Four homes have been built at Berryman Farm, in addition to a mini-storage business.

Increased real-estate inventory in Northern Colorado has made it a challenge to sell Berryman Farm, Yarbro said. That’s one reason for the auction.

“The market has been more challenging,” Stotts said. “Builders are still building, and some areas are still hot. With Berryman Farm, we have to find the buyers interested in the open space and quiet of a community like Kersey.”

The auction

Clarity Land Auction, a spin-off of Indiana-based Schrader Real Estate and Auction Co. Inc. and Washington-based Yarbro Auctioneers and Real Estate Services, has its headquarters at Centerra in Loveland. The company started in Colorado because of the opportunity to sell farmland along Interstate 25.

“I personally was involved in $5 million in real estate auction sales last year,” Yarbro said. “All of them sold at or above market value.”

The March 25 auction will utilize the M3 method, developed by Schrader Real Estate and Auction.

In traditional auctions, large bidders have the advantage. But the M3 method allows individual bidders to work together to outbid large bidders. For example, if a builder bids on three lots at Berryman Farm, three individuals wanting the same three lots can work with each other to put in a higher bid, Yarbro said.

Clarity Land Auction’s job is to lead the bidders through the process. The company will keep track of bids with marker boards and computers set up in the Platte Valley High School cafeteria.

Yarbro said this type of auction is ideal for land that can be divided, such as Berryman Farm. Yarbro said he also believes in Kersey’s vision for the master-planned community.

“Kersey is a great town, and it’s neat what they are trying to do,” he said. “We really want to help the city of Kersey in the end.”