Thursday, September 30, 2010

Lighting a fire under the buyer!

A couple of weeks ago, I was working with a real estate agent on her first online auction.

The seller was a widow who had equity in her home, but could no longer keep up with the payments or the size of the home. The house had been listed for 6 months with no offers.

They wanted to try something new, something to get attention and motivate buyers to make offers so I helped them market it through an online auction.

We put up signs, mailed post cards to the neighbors and put up fliers in the local businesses.

The marketing attracted interest, but more importantly the process lit a fire under a buyer who had previously viewed the home. They didn't want to compete with other buyers so they wrote an offer that was accepted before bidding opened.

This is not unusual as I've seen about 20% of the properties I market through auction get a "pre-auction" offer before bidding opens.

There is something to be said about being able to create urgency by setting deadlines like the auction process does.

It's definitely a unique, powerful and exciting way to sell real estate.

You're welcome to join our next training session where we discuss the online real estate auction process in more details. Register Here

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Online Auctions - Not for the lazy Realtor

This past week I was teaching a class of auctioneers & real estate agents how online auctions work, some advantages & disadvantages, etc.

While there are a lot of efficiencies gained by using an online auction vs. a live "on-site" auction, the class observed that an online auction still requires more effort than most Realtors give when marketing one of their listings.

I agree, there is more effort involved, but not much more, which leaves a HUGE opportunity for progressive agents willing to put in that effort.

Interestingly enough, all the agents I'm currently working with have sellers so excited about the concept that the sellers are giving them upfront fees to do an online auction for them. This is more evidence of the demand in the market for this service.

If you don't understand the online auction process or even where to start, I can help you too. We hold a webinar each month that explains everything. I hope you can join us. Register Here