Agent In-House Auctions

Hi All,
I was wondering if anyone was familiar with agent in-house auctions. This is a fairly new concept to me but I understand is used a lot more in other countries.

My mother in-law is selling her home and is exploring this as an option and I wanted to know if anyone has been/used one and what their thoughts were?

Without knowing too much my initial thoughts have been:

PROS
- Only serious buyers will attend
- Can hide flaws such as noise (For example if you lived on a main road the constant noise could deter buyers)
- Protect from weather (I understand you could hold the auction in the house but depending on the crowd it could make it cramped given a bad sense of size).

CONS
- People simply may be put off by this as it is not the norm
- Will minimise emotion and we all know that is where the major money is made. If you have a lovely garden and got a perfect day it will just enhance emotion if auctioned at the house.
- They are usually done on a weeknight which after work could have some buyers in a negative mood

These are just a few I can think of for both pros and cons.
 
i think it depends on the property also. I know a few agents that do lots of these types of auctions and they sell quite well. But they are mainly selling development potential properties and the purchaser doesn't really need to be onsite viewing the house again... The will also sell 2/3/4 similar properties in one night so if someone misses out they can just wait and bid on the next one without driving around.
 
I have been to two in Perth. Each time four properties were up for auction. The REA actually hired a conference room at my local pub. I think the idea was to get people drinking and push up the prices... it didn't work. :rolleyes:

The auctions were well attended but started late. Perhaps the REA was looking for certain interested buyers to arrive. Before the auction there was loud music, a light show and some guy up the front trying get the crowd motivated. They ran a quiz with prizes of Moet to get the crowd going then auctioned off a bottle of Moet for charity. Finally the auctions started. Nice slide show of the properties as the auctioneer spruiked the properties. Lots of silence, very few bids. A couple got passed in - no bids, a couple got passed in - didn't meet reserve. The auctioneer took the highest bidder outside (a couple) and picked a fight with them. As I left I heard them arguing about the price. It was very nasty and very personal. Finally the property got passed in.

I only saw one property get a good result. It had two bidders who went way over the reserve and I think over the market at the time.

Out of 8 properties over two nights, one sold on each night. They didn't run any more after that.

This was in Perth though were buyers are generally anti-auction. I have been to maybe 14 auctions but I have only seen 4 of those houses sell at auction. Other states, like Victoria have the majority of houses sold at auction. It might work much better there.
 
We usually have in-house auctions every fortnight. Owner's have the choice between in house or at location. Pretty much for the reasons you stated, you can control the environment. A few auctions on one after the other, this gathers a crowd and also shows buyers there is competition.

At the end of the day, if a buyer is serious and they want the property they will attend the Auction. It all comes down to the communication with agent and buyers
 
Thanks for all the replies.
My gut feeling is that even though selling in winter I still think at the house is a better option.
The house is actually a wood cabin so even if it is not the best day it could work in favour, get the beautiful big fire place going and warm the house and it could have a great effect of warmth and charm.
 
Depends where the cabin is if it is in the middle of the sticks and you have been advertising to Melbourne it might be better to do it closer to Melbourne.

However if you are targeting locally or not far out I agree best on site, yes you get neighbours which I see as an advantage, I would love to see 500 people rock up one of my auctions with 480 being neighbours and 20 buyers.
 
Hi All,
I was wondering if anyone was familiar with agent in-house auctions. This is a fairly new concept to me but I understand is used a lot more in other countries.

I just attended my first - and bought my PPOR. It was very well attended (only property being auctioned) with 5+ active bidders / 25 People there. I think it worked very well for the seller and was a very comfortable way to do it. They had a projector with photos scrolling and showed the bid value on the big screen.

The environment in this case was better than onsite - there was no "nice space" to do the auction.
 
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