Here's a scenario for you. Say you have an option on a house for sale and it is out of state. It has been on the market (off and on) for over five years. The house is vacant as the owner lives out of state. What do you do?
The answer to your problem is to auction it. Many people have been told that they will need to come up with a certain amount of dollars up front to pay for advertising for the auction. There are some auction companies who may require a nominal fee to offset the advertising, but the amount should be nominal. If you (or the owner) are told to pay an outrageous fee, it is time to get a new auction company. If the owner has been scared off at the prospect of having to pay an advertising fee, this is where you can step in. Negotiate with the auctioneer. Sure the auctioneer would love to spend excess money (someone else's excess money) on advertising, but it is not necessary to have an auction.
Your next step: Get permission from the owner to have the auction. Have a plan of attack. Let him know you will pay the expenses of the auction (this might impress him). Make sure he is available by phone when you are having his auction. This way you can go over the low and high bids with him. Another option is to make sure you put no minimum bid in the advertising. That just simply means the auction is going to open where it opens-no minimum bid. That does not obligate you to anything. People think that means it's an absolute auction, it is not.
It just means there is no starting bid. You still get to decide whether it is yay or nay.
The auctioneer may require something signed by the seller to give him permission to auction it. Make sure your auctioneer knows you are auctioning it but you have full cooperation. That is why a little agreement drawn up (have your seller sign it ahead of time, that you can hand the auctioneer) will probably win him over for you.
Remember, if you plan to do an auction on any type of property, house or land, you always have to ask permission to do an auction. Don't forget!