$30 Million in Residential Properties to Be Sold : Auction: Dwellings in seven counties will be put on the block July 25 and 26 by Freddie Mac.

In one of the biggest and most sprawling residential real estate auction deals to hit the Southland, Kennedy-Wilson Inc. in Santa Monica has been selected to sell $30 million worth of houses, condominiums and multifamily units in seven counties.

The residences are being put on the block by the Western regional office of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.--commonly called Freddie Mac--in its first Southern California auction since 1988.

All but 78 of the 248 properties will be sold to the highest bidder in an absolute auction, meaning there will be no pre-established minimum bid.

The properties stretch from Bakersfield to the Mexican border, with the bulk in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

The sale, to be split into two events July 25 and 26, is being held to thin out the regional Freddie Mac office’s portfolio of foreclosed real estate--called REO or real estate owned--prior to a consolidation that will move the REO division to Dallas at the end of July.

David E. Posley, regional manager for the quasi-governmental corporation’s single-family REO operations, said that many of the properties are expected to be sold at prices that will make them available to first-time home buyers.

In two recent Freddie Mac auctions in New England, 42% of the homes were purchased by first-time buyers, Posley said. “I hope we get about 60% first-time purchasers,” he said.

Freddie Mac will make financing available to all qualified buyers on terms that include 5% down payments with no private mortgage insurance requirements for owner-occupants, said Posley. To assist novice auction buyers, Freddie Mac is sponsoring a series of “how to buy” seminars: July 13 for San Diego County, July 15 for the San Gabriel Valley-Inland Empire region, July 16 for Orange and Los Angeles counties and July 20 for Ventura and Kern counties and the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.

Information about specific seminars as well as photographs and descriptions of the properties is available in the auction catalogue. The catalogue can be obtained at Kennedy-Wilson’s main office, 2950 31st St., Santa Monica.

The July 25 auction will be held at 2 p.m. at the los Angeles Convention Center and will cover 110 properties in Los Angeles County, 30 in San Bernardino County, 13 in Ventura County and seven in Kern County.

On July 26, auctioneers will offer 26 properties in Orange County, 43 in Riverside County and 19 in San Diego County at a 2 p.m. sale at the Westin South Coast Plaza Hotel in Costa Mesa.