Auction time is any time
There is a very common misconception in the real estate space that seems to suggest that the auction of a property can only happen on a Saturday. Based on the level of booking enquiry most auctioneers receive, it would also seem to suggest that around 11am of a Saturday morning might give one the best chance at transacting unconditionally under the hammer.
And that couldn’t be further from the truth.
At Benson Auctions, we are continuously reaffirming our ethos to anyone who will read or listen, and that is to ‘Trust The Process’. In saying this, we mean that selling any property via auction is to do so via the application of a few things that work regardless of what day an auction is called, and indeed the time of that day.
Auctions are, for want of a better description, a formula for selling assets. Auctions invite anyone with a particular budget who is in the market for a particular asset to participate in the opportunity to determine the value of said asset. Auctions also encourage transparent competition to arrive at what might be deemed ‘current market value’ for the asset, and this is achieved in a public arena so as to reaffirm that the price has been dictated by the marketplace, not the selling agent. When applied to real estate, the buyer has (generally) 28 days to look at comparable property, conduct pest and/or building inspections, and talk to their lender to secure finance. In the same window of market exposure, the seller will receive market feedback from their agent around price validation, and come auction day that feedback will be used to set the reserve of the property, and the decision making on the day should the property fail to meet its reserve but come close enough to consider a measured reaction.
All of this can happen anywhere, any time. “Oh honey, this home is perfect! It has everything we could ever want or need! It’s a shame we can’t buy it because the auction is on a Thursday night” said no one, ever. If a buyer genuinely loves a property, it is genuinely within their budget, and they genuinely would like to try and buy it, then they will be at your auction. Anyone using the day or time of an auction to not attend is not a genuine buyer. Even buyers who can’t be at auctions due to things like having to attend weddings, or family holidays, are able to arrange proxy bidders, or to bid via the telephone. Genuine prospective buyers do this weekly.
Travel around Australia’s current auction markets and you’ll see proof of the process working on many different days and times. Head to Adelaide on a Friday, and you’ll hear auctioneer Bronte Manuel’s voice booming throughout the streets and suburbs of the City of Churches as he and the Toop & Toop team expertly apply the process to daytime, on site auction sales. Fly to Brisbane’s trendy New Farm district on a Tuesday night, and you’ll likely see legendary QLD auctioneer Haesley Cush auctioning 20 odd homes and apartments at the well renowned ‘Auction Under the Stars’ summer auction events. If horse racing isn’t your style, Sundays around Melbourne’s prestigious Caufield district is a hotbed of auction activity for the team at Gary Peer & Associates, a strategy that allows them to accommodate the transactional preferences of their areas high proportion of Jewish ownership. Mid-week daytime auctions are a staple for Commercial property sales, just as mid-week evening auctions held ‘in rooms’ are ever popular Nationally. Looking locally, the highest price achieved by public auction throughout the entire Hills District in 2017 was a 5 acre block of land in Dural, sold at 11am on a Sunday!
An agent who believes in the auction process and is able to use its structure to deliver its benefits to both seller and marketplace knows that the best time for an auction is the time it’s scheduled. Any property, any day, any time… trust the process.