Over the past 4 years, I've been focused on using Online Auctions to market and sell real estate.
There is a huge opportunity right now to take advantage of all the buyers looking for deals in today's market. When you sell using an online auction you draw more buyers than any other method. Buyers today know (thanks to the media) that there are great deals to be had, they just don't know where to look. When you sell using an auction, you are telling them LOOK HERE.
However, even with this great opportunity, there is still a lot of confusion on what is needed to make an online auction successful. Here are a few strategies that will help you succeed with this powerful method.
1) The property being sold MUST be a good value. If a property is listed in the MLS and isn't getting offers, don't expect the online auction process to yield anything different unless the owner is willing to take at least a 10% discount.
2) Take at least 10 pictures of the property, 20 is better and pictures plus a video tour is best.
3) Schedule and hold at least 2 open house previews, 3 is best.
4) Place signs in yard and directional signs on nearby street corners. During open house previews make sure your open house signs get attention (i.e. balloons or ideally hire a person to stand and hold it).
5) MLS - Put the listing in the MLS with information about the online auction, open house preview times and a link to the listing where bids can be placed.
6) Marketing - Craigslist every 2 days (per their terms of use), flyers in the front yard, e-flyers, postcards to neighbors, newspaper, etc. Marketing is key. An auction naturally will get buyers to take notice and react, but they still need to know about it.
These are just some of the main strategies that will help an online auction be successful, hope you can use them in your next or first online auction.
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