Manitoba Crown land auction tips

Jan 17, 2022

Buyers with unreliable internet should leave a high bid, an auctioneer said

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

The auction house hosting a Crown land lease auction for the Manitoba government has provided interested buyers with tips to ensure smooth participation.

Garton’s Auction Service, located in Dauphin, Man. will be facilitating the auction between Jan. 31 and Feb. 4.

No information is available yet about the parcels up for auction. But that should be coming soon, said Larry Garton, founder of Garton’s Auction Service.

The Manitoba government “is currently preparing and confirming the units of Crown land that will be in this auction,” he told Farms.com in an email. “We are hoping that this will be complete and will be available for viewing including maps of the parcel locations and estimated carrying capacity for pasture parcels around Jan. 24 or 25.”

Bidding will begin on Jan. 31.

Garton encourages interested buyers to visit the auction site to become familiar with it and register. New users can also place bids on test lots to activate accounts and ensure everything is working smoothly.

And because the provincial government is the seller, logging on early will help ensure any necessary documents can be filled out ahead of time, Garton said.

“We ask that bidders sign in as early as possible to request to bid in the auction as there will be a form to submit for Crown Lands approval before the party will be allowed to bid,” he said.

Once the bidding begins, potential buyers must bid in certain increments.

The minimum bid per lot is $200 and a minimum bid increment is $100.

Bidding will close at 5:00pm on Feb. 4, Garton said.

“One unit will close every minute,” he said. “Bidding is extended by five minutes if a bid is received within five minutes of the scheduled or extended close. This will continue until no bid has been received for five minutes.”

For anyone with a questionable internet connection participating in the auction, Garton suggests placing a high bid to lock in a price.

“It is very important that bidders with unreliable internet leave a high bid, which is the absolute maximum they are willing to pay,” he said. “Only the portion needed is used to outbid another bidder. They need to remember that losing out on a unit of land because of bad internet will affect them for the next 15 years.”

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