Homesellers tempted to auction their homes should
remember four words: AUCTIONS GET LOWER PRICES.
Never mind what agents tell you, never mind what you read in the
papers, auctions are a financial minefield for consumers.
Despite the booms in many areas, thousands of homesellers are turning
their backs on auction and benefiting. But there are still thousands
of sellers who don't realise, until it's too late, what happens
to them at auction.
They get a LOWER price, that's what happens.
If someone is trying to talk you into selling by auction, then
before you sign anything, please read this.
- THE STARTING PRICE
It seems as if the price goes up at auctions. But that's only
because it starts LOW. It's like starting the day with a massive
hangover and saying that you are going to feel better as the day
progresses. That's not a good reason to get drunk every night.
Avoid drinking and you avoid the hangover. You start the day in
good shape.
And that's how your sale should start - from a good position,
a position of strength, not of weakness.
One of the BASIC principles of price negotiation is to ALWAYS
START HIGH.
You will get a much higher price if you start higher and come
down, than if you start lower and try to climb up. When you
start low, you can get stuck low. It's like climbing up a mountain
or down the mountain. When you are climbing up you run out of
energy a lot faster than when you are climbing down.
If you want a high price, START high. Auctions start low.
This is how auctions get lower prices.
-
RESERVE PRICE
The reserve price is the price at which the home can be
sold. It's the lowest price a seller is prepared to accept.
And that becomes the central focus of the auction.
If you are trying to get the highest price, do NOT make your
lowest price the main focus of the sale.
There are two parties in a sale price negotiation - a seller
and a buyer. Each has their "final price" or their
"limit". The sellers' final price is the reserve -
that's the lowest the home will sell for. The buyers' final
price may never be known.
There is no procedure at an auction for determining the highest
price a buyer will pay. Only the highest price of the losing
buyers may be known because they stop bidding once they reach
their limit. But the buyer who is the highest bidder often buys
at less than his or her limit.
Most buyers at auction buy for less than their limit which
means most sellers at auction under-sell their homes.
You can't possibly get the highest price for your home if the
central focus is on the Sellers' Lowest Price. You can only
get the highest price if the focus is on the Buyers' Highest
Price.
As a seller, you are at a huge disadvantage because your lowest
price, the 'reserve', is always disclosed BEFORE the home is
sold. That’s when you hear the agent yell, “It’s
ON the market”. Everyone knows your lowest price.
Not so with the buyers. IF their final price is ever disclosed,
it will be AFTER the sale is over. By then it is too late for
the sellers.
This is how auctions get lower prices.
-
REPELS BUYERS
Research shows that more than 90 percent of buyers do NOT
like auctions. It makes no sense to use a system of selling
disliked by most of the buyers.
You can only get the highest price if all the buyers who may
be interested in a home are given the chance to buy the home.
As auctions repel so many buyers, the highest paying buyers
often avoid auctions.
And this is how auctions get lower prices.
-
INCONVENIENT
One of the BASIC rules of marketing is: make it EASY for
people to buy. Auctions do not make it easy. They make it hard.
Many buyers see that a home is for auction, and if the date
doesn't suit them, they don't even bother to enquire. The buyers
that are lost in this manner are often buyers who would have
paid thousands of dollars more than the auction's final selling
price.
And this is how auctions get lower prices.
-
BARGAIN HUNTERS
Investors, property dealers and bargain hunters all know
that auctions are one of the best places to find cheap deals
in real estate. It is well-known that deceased estates and mortgagee
sales are often sold for a 'song' at auction. Auction agents
try to justify this by saying, "Look at the banks and the
Government departments. They use auctions."
But that's because they want to make sure the home is sold.
The sale is more important than the price. The banks and the
Government departments are not the "owners" in the
way that consumers are owners. Many banks and Government departments
do not realise they are under-selling homes at auction. Those
who do, are now beginning to avoid auctions.
Property investors, developers and dealers often buy at auction.
But they almost NEVER sell at auction. That's because auctions
get lower prices.
-
COMPARATIVE
If two or more people want to buy the same home, the worst
thing you can do, from a negotiation point, is to allow each
person to SEE what the other is offering! Instead of offering
their highest price, each buyer will only offer a SMALL amount
above what the other buyer offered.
Auctions are touted as being competitive - but the competition
is in PUBLIC not private - which makes it COMPARATIVE more than
competitive. Everyone compares what everyone else is offering.
It's like playing cards and knowing what the others are holding.
By making the negotiation so public, the buyers have a tremendous
advantage over the seller. Instead of having to offer their
highest price to win the auction, buyers only have to outbid
the buyer below them.
And this is how auctions get lower prices.
-
DECEPTION
To persuade sellers to auction their homes, agents will
talk about high prices. And then to get buyers to come to the
auction, the same agents will talk about low prices. Most times
both the seller AND the buyer are deceived. The sellers end
up selling for less than they were told they could get, and
the buyers often end up paying more than they were told they
could pay.
The most infamous deceit is Dummy Bidding where agents use
bogus bids to keep the auction moving. Some agents deny that
Dummy Bidding exists. But consider this: How do you have an
auction with only ONE bidder?
Most people think Dummy Bidding increases the price. But Dummy
Bidding deceives sellers as much as buyers. It is used to get
the price up to the point where it can be sold - the reserve
price.
Usually, once the home reaches its reserve, the agent stops
using bogus bids. The home is then sold for its lowest price.
And this is how auctions get lower prices.
-
SELLS TO THE WRONG MARKET
To attract buyers, agents will market the home by advertising
it to "start from" a low price. This is supposed to
attract buyers. And indeed it does. But it attracts buyers who
want to buy at the LOW price NOT at the price the seller wants.
Many of these buyers can't afford to pay much more than the
price advertised. And so, on the day of the auction, there will
be a crowd of buyers all wanting to buy at a low price.
The agent will then say to the sellers, "This is what
the market is telling us."
But the agent has been looking in the WRONG market - a market
BELOW THE VALUE of the home.
This is how auctions get lower prices.
-
FAILED AUCTIONS
When a home does not sell at auction - and thousands don't
- it is labelled a "failure". Buyers think something
is wrong with it; and many will offer LOWER prices. Like a wounded
animal with vultures circling, failed auctions are easy prey
for bargain hunters.
This is how auctions get lower prices.
These are just some of the reasons why we believe AUCTIONS GET
LOWER PRICES. We hope it's enough to make you think carefully when
someone wants you to sign-up for an auction.
