Should you use auction if you have already been on the market with a price?

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Auctioneers and auction agent will tell you time and again that auctions traditionally sell properties faster than private treaty – 28 day for auction compared to 76 days for private treaty in the three months to March 2017 (source: REIWA).

So, it’s a great idea to take your property to market with auction.

But what to you do it you’re a home owners who is using private treaty, whose property has been on the market for that 76 days or more? Can you still take a property to auction if you have already been on the market at a price?

The answer is a resounding and absolute yes! In fact, some of the best results we have had have been for sellers who have tried an alternative method and have been unsuccessful.

Earlier this year we called the auction for a home in Weld Street in Nedlands. It had been on the market unsuccessfully for months. It was taken off the market and relaunched with auction.  There were three registered bidders on the day and it sold under the hammer.

Auction is another selling strategy and very powerful one at that, and it will have benefits whether it is your first choice or your second, third or fourth.

What auction does is strip price off the property and gets buyers judging the property on its merit, not on the price.

Auction is a great way to reinvent the property – we have all heard the saying “the height of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result” so if you have been trying private treaty with no success, why not try auction.

Here are some reasons auctions work so well:

  • They create multiple competitive environments to sell.
  • They use a skilled third-party negotiator in a contract auctioneer.
  • You have a period of time to receive buyer feedback to assist in setting the reserve. Listen to this feedback.
  • They provide transparent public negotiation – all buyers can see what other buyers are offering in the form of bids.
  • Vendor bidding allows you to ‘counter offer’ and negotiate under auction conditions if necessary.

If your property has been languishing on the market and you do decide to take it to auction, here are some ways to help reinvent the property:

  1. Change up the photos to make it look different online. I strongly recommend getting professional photos taken, and do some property staging if necessary.
  2. Re-boot the property to take it to the top of realestate.com where it will catch more people’s attention.
  3. “Tell the story” – buyers always ask “why are they selling?”, so if you go on the front foot and tell them why you are selling it will motivate them to come to the property.
  4. Use headings like NOW SELLING, WILL MEET THE MARKET, WILL BE SOLD in your advertising to show buyers you are motivated to sell.
  5. Re do the property description and sell the sizzle, meaning tell the buyers why you loved the home or are rather than what it has. Sell the benefits of living there, not just the features.
  6. Invest in some print advertising.

If one strategy has not worked, try and try again with another strategy. Auction is a great way to create competition, and if buyers compete for your property the highest price the market is willing to pay will be produced. You have nothing to lose . Give it a go.