Start the Bidding: Lifelong Auctioneer Puts His Family Home on the Auction Block for $1

Since 1973, Bernie Brzostek has conducted over 8,700 real estate and personal property auctions. But on Oct. 11, 2026, at 1 p.m., he may be auctioning the most important property yet: his own family home.After 53 years working together in the auction business in upstate New York, Brzostek and his wife, Wendy, are planning to retire and move south to be closer to their four daughters and grandkids.The pair have run a home or personal property auction via Brzostek's Real Estate Auction Co. roughly every other day over the course of their 50-plus-year marriage. So it makes sense that, as they move into a new chapter, they've decided to auction off their own home of 35-plus years in Baldwinsville, NY.The reserve, or minimum opening bid, for the property is set at just $1. But Brzostek says he isn't fretting about the unusual approach to selling his home."I don’t worry about selling my house at auction," says Brzostek. Selling a home by auction is basically an accelerated path to getting the top market price in the shortest amount of time, he adds."Since we have a 99% sell rate for our clients, why wouldn’t we subscribe to the same method when it comes to auctioning our home at an unres...