The Mercer auction, or Realtors say the darndest things...

This weekend's awesome fire sale auction of The Mercer condominiums isn't what you think. There's no signs of desperation here, just fiendishly clever marketing:

"This is not a distress sale, this is a marketing approach," said Jon Gollinger, AMP’s co-founder and east coast CEO. "We bring a community of buyers into the room." He said the developer decided to explore unique marketing opportunities "rather than wait out the market." Gollinger added that the companies AMP represents in home auctions are not ones that auction out of financial needs, but rather ones who think holding on to properties does not make sense when they have a good product to sell.

Hahahahahahahahaha! But wait -- there's more:

THE MERCER condo auction, according to Gollinger, will present the buyers with an opportunity to buy a quality product at "ridiculously low prices." For example, said Gollinger, a model of a two-bedroom condo that sold previously for $359,000 is being offered for $205,000 as the starting price in the Mercer auction. Similarly, a one-bedroom model previously sold for $289,000 will be offered for bidding at $155,000. "We haven’t seen these prices in decades in this market," said Gollinger.

"There is going to be a lot more of these, because they are friendly and it is the safest way to purchase a home," said Gollinger of the auction. "It’s a consumer-friendly process." He said auctions would also resonate with what he called the "technical generation," the younger buyers. "It’s something they are comfortable with, something they understand."

Let's clarify our earlier comment: Hahahahahahaha! In other words, it's kind of like eBay for home buyers, not collectors of 70s troll dolls. Bid with confidence, and let's see who this video offends: