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Disposing of Property: Procedures 153 The local government continues this process until a ten -clay period passes without receipt of a qualifying upset bid. Confusion is possible over the method of selecting the qualifying upset bid. Under the upset bid procedure used in a number of other statutes,' the upset period remains open only until a qualifying upset bid :is submitted, whether that is on the first day, the fifth clay, or the tenth clay. Once that fast qualifying bid is received, it becomes the new offer, and a new sale is held. Many local governments, however, follow a different procedure. They leave tbe'upset period open the entire ten days specified in the statute and require that bids be submitted in sealed form. Only at the end of the ten days are the bids examined, and the highest of these (rather than the first qualifying) be= comes the new offer. The potential difference between the two methods is illustrated by this example: The original offer is $9,000, and therefore the minimum upset bid is $9,500. Under the first method, if a $9,500 bid is received on day 3, that concludes the upset period and a new upset sale is held. At that sale, the offer is $9,500 and the minimum upset bid is $10,025 ($9,500 + $100 + $425). Under the second method, however, if a $9,500 bid is received on day 3 and a $9,600 bid on day ten, the latter bid prevails and becomes the new offer. (Note that a $9,600 offer would not successfully upset an earlier $9,500 offer under the first method of upset bidding.) The mini- mum offer on the new sale under this second method is $10,130 ($9,600 + $100 + $430). The language of G.S. 1604 -269 is compatible with either of these-meth- ods. Nevertheless, to avoid confusion among potential buyers, the selling government should make clear in the board's resolution and in the notice which of the two methods it will follow. (If the board decides to follow the second method, it should require that potential upset bids be submitted in writing and be sealed, and bids should not be opened until the ten -day pe- riod has ended. The requirement for sealed bids should also be set out in the resolution and notice.) 97. E.-., G.S. 1 -339.1 through - 339.40 (Cum. Supp.) (judicial sales); id. §§ 1- 339.41 through - 339.71 (Cum. Supp.) (execution sales); and id. §§ 45 -21.1 through -21.33 (sales under a power of sale). 98. If the second method is used, there is a possibility of identical high bids. The sale procedure could specify a method of selecting from identical bids, such as picking the one submitted earliest. If that method is used, then bids must be stamped with time and date when they are submitted. Attachment number 6 E -1 Page 67