A question I am regularly asked is whether it’s better to hold an auction on-site or in-rooms.
My general advice to people is try to always have it on-site. Yes, I am aware that one of our competitors is all about the in-room auction night but in my experience this tends to benefit the agents more than it does the clients.
After ‘mother’, the word ‘home’ is considered to be the most emotive word in the English language. That being the case, the auction process relies heavily on people’s emotions. I recently bought my own home at auction, on-site with a heavily pregnant wife…fair to say that I’m talking from personal experience.
When you attend an open house just prior to an auction, you can feel it in the air. After all, the buyers are thinking to themselves this might be our home in twenty minutes…that’s powerful.
For me, the in-room environment can be sterile, a room with no windows and lots of suits isn’t really my vibe. There is also considerable environmental risk. By that I mean if several auctions struggle or pass in before yours, the anxious buyers may spook and question if they should be bidding at all. To be fair, if those auctions go well perhaps it has a more positive effect? Either way, the atmosphere of your auction is tethered to others.
The other thing I often hear is that in-room auctions are better because only serious buyers attend, hmmm, I don’t buy that. Could it be the case that lining up a bunch of auctions in a row on a mid-week evening frees up selling agent’s Saturdays to hold more open houses? Sometimes auctions are time consuming and many agents don’t like it interrupting their capacity to hold more listings.
Last week we had an on-site auction and just when I thought it was over the auctioneer stepped to the side and said cheekily ‘I really shouldn’t block this water view’, the room laughed and then the bidding continued.
I’d suggest that if you have a property that will win hearts no matter how big or small, you will do better with the process happening right there. After all, home is where the heart is.
Until next week,
David Murphy