The local property auctions are running hot, yes, but so are the local SMART SALES.
“Smart Sale” list to sale ratios are running at least as high as auction clearance rates, and with mostly more impressive prices. They just don’t get the same attention in the newspaper.
Whether this is because public auctions provide more theatre and general public interest, or whether newspapers tend to promote methods of sale that guarantee several weeks of advertising revenue is irrelevant if you are a seller – the most important thing is the result you achieve. You are a seller of a house, not a buyer of advertising!
The most important thing for a seller is to get the highest price (not just a high price).
Do auctions (private or online) deliver this, with their “competitive” nature?
Let’s have a look.
A major rule of negotiation is to never reveal one party’s offer to another, because obviously the successful buyer only has to raise their bid/offer one small increment above the second best buyer – when they may well have been able and willing to pay much more.
Many auctions achieve a high price, yes. But the HIGHEST? Rarely. Just ask successful buyers what they would have been prepared to keep bidding up to.
The Smart Sale, on the other hand, is the best method when there are multiple buyers, and the only successful method when there is just one buyer.
The Smart Sale involves having trained negotiators, working one-on-one with buyers in a private sale setting, to discover their highest price – not waving at a crowd with a hammer in their hand or showing them online what others are offering!
In this way, the Smart Sale method is favoured by most buyers as well, for its more relaxed, flexible nature, and maintaining of their privacy.
Skilled use and timing of the Highest Price Declaration is key. Ask your Wilsons agent for a copy and demonstration.
Of the last 48 sales made by Wilsons Warrnambool & District Real Estate using the Smart Sale method, 83.3% have been at or above their asking price. The average sale price is $3,347 HIGHER than the average asking price.
Note the difference between “asking price” and an auction’s “reserve price”. A reserve price is the lowest price the seller is prepared to sell for, while a stated asking price is a price the sellers hope to achieve. Auctions focus on the lowest, and if the sellers are lucky, they get higher than this, but often only a tad higher than the second best price. The Smart Sale focuses on the highest price the buyer is prepared to pay.
In one recent Smart Sale example, the highest offer was $54,500 higher than the second best offer. In another example, it was $53,000 higher than the second best offer, and another sold over $30,000 above the asking price in a case where there was only one buyer that made an offer.
Auctions, no doubt, would have achieved high prices in at least 2 of these cases, however the HIGHEST price was much, much more. Why leave this extra money on the table?
Another advantage of the Smart Sale method is that the negotiation involves flexibility.
Settlement times, finance clauses, building inspections, and many other terms and conditions can be added to the equation and often assist in achieving the HIGHEST price.
Does this recent quote by an auction agent in the Warrnambool Standard sound like the seller’s property was opened up to the maximum pool of buyers – which would have given maximum hope of achieving the best price?
So, if you are thinking of selling, don’t read the press and think, “maybe we should auction”. Instead, dig a little deeper and consider selling SMART. Contact us at Wilsons to find out more.