The Week in Real Estate is a column from Mark Wellborn of UrbanTurf, a local blog and newsletter that covers the residential real estate scene in D.C., MD, and VA. Auctions usually bring to mind a motor-mouthed auctioneer, a frenetic bidding process, and such tight competition between bidders that the actual prize up for grabs can take a back seat to winning. Condo auctions, like the one held this past weekend in Rockville, veer slightly…

This is the first installment of a new weekly real estate column from Mark Wellborn of UrbanTurf, a local blog and newsletter that covers the residential real estate scene in D.C., MD, and VA. A few weeks before the Democratic National Convention came to Denver this past summer, an email popped up in my inbox from an industrious friend in the Colorado city. “I am going to get $3,000 for my place for the week,”…