What, this isn't a seller's market?

A few weeks ago I was working with a new customer, a real estate agent in Las Vegas, on a condo he was marketing through an online auction.

Typically we put a listing up in a "preview" mode for a few days before we open the bidding. The idea is to flush out a written offer and, if good enough, cancel the auction.

Well, that's what happened, a buyer's agent brought him an offer that was decent and within the range of what the seller wanted to get.

However, my customer, the listing agent, was a little disappointed because he really wanted to go through the online bidding process to see how it worked. So, he talked to the seller and they both agreed to reject the offer knowing that they might not be able to go back to it if things didn't work out. This isn't something I advise, but they wanted to do it so I didn't argue against it.

Well, the decision worked out well, there were several other buyers who were interested and the winning bid online came in at just over $5000 more than the written offer. As you can imagine the seller thinks the agent is a hero and she can't wait to have him market her next property she rehabs.

As an added item of interest, the winning bidder was from the east coast. They had never seen the property, just the pictures and information online. This is definitely not typical as the online bidding usually takes place between local buyers who have visited one of the open house previews. However, it is an example of how holding an online auction reaches a bigger buyer pool and helps increase the competitive bidding.

If you're interested in learning more about using online bidding in your market, you can join our next online real estate auction webinar.