Online real estate auctions

1 . A method in a computing system for conducting a real-time or near-real-time real estate auction having a plurality of participants, each of the plurality of participants using a participant computer system, comprising:

for each of a series of auction rounds:

automatically determining a bid amount for the round;

causing each of the participant computer systems to display an indication of the bid amount for the auction round;

soliciting bidding instructions from at least a subset of the participants;

receiving from at least a subset of the participant computer systems one or more bidding instructions; and

resolving the auction in accordance with the received bidding instructions.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising causing each of the participant computer systems to display an indication of a subset of participants who have subscribed to the current bid amount.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the bid amount is determined and bidding restrictions are solicited in accordance with a Japanese auction model.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the bid amount is determined and bidding restrictions are solicited in accordance with a Japanese auction model, followed by a down the ladder auction model.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the bid amount is determined and bidding restrictions are solicited in accordance with a Japanese auction model, followed by a down the ladder auction model, followed by an up the ladder auction model.

6 . An apparatus for conducting an auction having a plurality of participants, each of the participants having a participant electronic communications device, comprising:

an auction direction component that provides bidding opportunities to participants in accordance with a Japanese auction model;

a receiving component that receives bidding instructions at a central geographic location from participant electronic communications devices each operated by a participant among the plurality of participants; and

a sending component that transmits auction status updates from the central geographic location to each of the participant electronic communications devices.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 when the receiving component receives bidding instructions transcribed from spoken instructions received from participants via telephone calls.

8 . The apparatus of claim 6 when the receiving component decodes bidding instructions from telephone keypress sequences received from participants via telephone calls.

9 . The apparatus of claim 6 when the receiving component receives bidding instructions from the participant electronic communications devices operated by participants.

10 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein at least one of the participant electronic communications devices is a computer system.

11 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein at least one of the participant electronic communications devices is a mobile phone.

12 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein at least one of the participant electronic communications devices is a television.

13 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein at least one of the participant electronic communications devices is a personal digital assistant.

14 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the auction component provides bidding opportunities to participants in accordance with a pure Japanese auction model.

15 . The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the auction component provides bidding opportunities to participants in accordance with a hybrid Japanese auction model that comprises a first up-the-ladder phase, followed by a down-the-ladder phase, followed by a second up-the-ladder phase.

16 . A computer-readable medium whose contents cause a computing system to perform a method for conducting a real estate auction having a plurality of participants, each of the participants using a participant computer system, the method comprising:

for each of a series of auction rounds:

automatically deferring a bid amount for the round;

causing each of the participant computer systems to display an indication of the bid amount for the round;

receiving from at least a subset of the participant computer systems one or more bidding instructions; and

resolving the auction in accordance with the received bidding instructions.

17 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the method further comprises causing each of the purchased in computer systems to display an indication of a subset of participants who have subscribed to the current bid amount.

18 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the bid amount is determined in accordance with a Japanese auction model.

19 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the bid amount is determined in accordance with a Japanese auction model, followed by a down the ladder auction model.

20 . The computer-readable medium of claim 16 wherein the bid amount is determined in accordance with a Japanese auction model, followed by a down the ladder auction model, followed by an up the ladder auction model.

21 . One or more generated data signals collectively conveying a real estate auction status display data structure between an auction computing system and an auction participant computing system, comprising:

contents constructed to cause the auction participant computing system to display an indication of a distinguished bidding round established by an auction organizer;

contents constructed to cause the auction participant computing system to display an indication of a bid amount for the distinguished bidding round selected by the auction organizer; and

contents constructed to cause the auction participant computing system to display an indication of the number of auction participants that have subscribed to the distinguished bidding round.

22 . The data signals of claim 21 , wherein the distinguished bidding round is a current bidding round.

23 . The data signals of claim 21 , wherein the distinguished bidding round is a most recent bidding round.