MIDDLETOWN — No deals were made at a real estate auction yesterday, but some of the properties might be sold if the gulf between buyers and sellers can be bridged within 48 hours.

Of the 24 properties offered at the sale, 15 did not attract any bids. And all the high bids for the rest of the properties were below the reserve prices set by the sellers, according to representatives of the auctioneers, Counts Realty & Auction Group of Lynchburg, Va.

The auction, held at the Atlantic Beach Club on Purgatory Road in Middletown yesterday morning, drew a crowd of 150 to 200 people, enough to fill the ballroom on the second floor of the waterfront hotel.

But there appeared to be few serious bidders, and even the most luxurious house offered at the auction — a contemporary colonial at 72 Harrison Ave. in Newport, a block from Newport Harbor — failed to attract a high enough bid to secure an immediate sale. The high bid for the property was $700,000. Reserve prices were confidential, but 72 Harrison Ave. was recently listed on the market for $1.25 million.

Danielle Ventura, 20, of Middletown, was the high bidder for a three-bedroom, two-bath ranch at 43 Viking Drive in Middletown. But her bid of $200,000 also did not match the reserve price. She said she was offered a price of $290,000, but she responded, “no way.”

Ventura, who said she works at the Navy Yard in Portsmouth, attended the auction with her father and her real estate agent, Wendy Lord-Harvey of Century 21 Access America. Ventura said she’s been looking for a month or two to buy her first house and saw the Viking Drive house at an open house Friday night.

A more experienced investor, David Pogorelc, of Boston, owner of Core Investments Inc., was the high bidder on four properties. Pogorelc said he was “most excited” about two prospective purchases in The Point neighborhood in Newport, two freestanding condo units at 26A and 26B Poplar St. Each has three bedrooms, two bathrooms and private parking. The high bids were $322,500 and $335,000 for the properties, and successful bidders also have to pay a 5-percent premium.

But because Pogorlec’s bids were below the reserve price, no sale will be made unless he and the seller can come to an agreement.

According to the terms of the auction, the sellers have 48 hours to accept bids below their reserve prices and they are also free to make counteroffers or negotiate with the high bidders.

“You can’t go wrong in The Point,” Pogorelc said.

The Counts Realty & Auction Group is planning to hold quarterly real estate auctions in Rhode Island even though yesterday’s auction failed to result in any immediate sales.

Mark Carpenter, a builder with Newport Home Design, attended the auction with friends Lee Caouette, an investor, and Diane Dailey, a real estate agent. Carpenter said he was interested in the land that was offered at the auction — half-acre lots in the Indian Hill subdivision in Portsmouth — but he thought the prices were too high.

“Land is at a premium on Aquidneck Island,” he said. Sellers “don’t want to give it away.”

cdunn@projo.com