Under the Hammer

"Sydney, Australia is the only place in the world where the majority of homes are sold at auction. It's an extraordinary, emotionally-charged event: for some exhilarating as prices soar on the auction floor; for others fraught with fear and anxiety as their homes and lives go under the hammer." Frank Davis
 

Saturday I got to experience my first live auction- as we sold our listing under the hammer.  It was so exciting!  We had a 4 week marketing campaign + 4 weeks of open for inspections (OFI's) twice a week leading up to the auction.  By auction day we were able to gather a crowd of about 60 people, with 2 registered bidders- not bad considering this was the 3rd time this property had been listed.. with no result.  


Our strategy was different- we had the property professionally staged (which makes a HUGE difference especially in photos) and priced the property according to market value (another massive difference from before)- and the end goal was to sell it at auction.  Auctions are great if excitement is generated, the seller is motivated, and the property is priced to sell.  Otherwise you are just setting yourself up for an embarrassing situation... no one bidding.  


Luckily we were able to drum up a ton of interest- a few hundred people came through over the past 4 weeks- a few people were genuinely interested- which lead to 2 registered bidders- and only 1 who was actually close to the reserve price (the minimum price the sellers would sell it for).


The reserve in this case was set at $2,500,000.  The opening bid was $2,100,000.  The second bidder came in at $2,200,000... then silence... Sandro (our auctioneer) talked up the house, location, and opportunity...and silence... so we brought the highest bidder downstairs.. showed them the reserve letter- and explained that if he wanted this property he needed to increase his bid substantially.  Meanwhile we went to talk to the owners (who were waiting outside on the porch) and see if we could get them to budge on their reserve.  Mark was able to get them to agree on accepting $2,450,000.  He then encouraged the bidder to bid $250,000 over himself - which won him the property!  Contracts were signed, a few tears were shed.. we stuck up a big sold sticker on the sign... and off we went to our next open house... our 3rd of 5 for the day!  


Whew.. a crazy day to say the least.. but very eventful and so exciting!  I think I like this whole auction thing.. in, out, sold, and onto the next one. 


Next week will be even crazy/exciting/eventful.. next week we have 2 auctions- and 5 open for inspections.. All in one day.  Quite different from America- where you sit at one open house for 3 hours.. only to have your prospective buyers meander through the first 10 min you are open or the last 5 min as you are closing up.