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"By thinking innovatively and using a not-hot market -- by exposing our sellers in a way we hadn't tried before -- we got more exposure than I thought we could," said Bob Rieck, who shares ownership of EXIT Realty with his wife, Tia, and Craig Witt.

The new technique the company tried was a real estate auction it hosted Jan. 27 at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa. Rieck and Witt each said the auction was a success and gave their clients attention while infusing buyers with a sense of urgency.

Rieck said he and Witt got the idea for the auction at a Michigan Association of Realtors convention in September. At that event, they visited the booth of the Pamela K. Rose Auction Co., where they learned the company had done thousands of auctions. Rieck said they did their homework, researching the company, and found they had a good track record.

After that, they planned for the event, and the auction company used $85,000 to advertise it in local, regional and national markets. Rieck said the company did its research to choose the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, among other media, in which to advertise.

Rieck said he won't know the full effect of the auction until a few months after the event, but he did safely call it a success. He told his wife that if he could sell one-third of the properties at auction, he'd be "ecstatic," he said.

"We sold $5 million of property in one hour on a Saturday in a blizzard," he said.

The auction offered about $12-13 million worth of property, and selling $5 million of it put him over his goal.

Rieck said the auction gave EXIT's customers "huge exposure across the country" that they never had before. "It gave the sellers exposure that a normal realtor couldn't give," he said.

Selling through an auction also brought a sense of urgency to the buyers, he added.

"If we didn't have this event, we'd still be waiting for the phone to ring," he said.

He admitted that an auction isn't for every buyer and if EXIT hosts another event in the future, they'll use that knowledge to choose which properties to offer. People want to feel that they got a deal from an auction, so some properties aren't right for the event, he said.

Even so, the properties that didn't sell were exposed to potential buyers who may otherwise not have looked.

Witt said some people may not see the auction as a success because 13 of 74 available properties sold. Realistically, though, Rieck said 32 of the listed properties were available because not all of the homes or condos were at "auction prices."

Witt said it was a success because it not only exceeded their goals, but it also could show sellers that his company is different.

"Every seller asks, 'What can you do differently (than other realtors),' " he said. "This is one example."