How To Get The Most Out of Your Residential Real Estate Auction
Your Guide for a Successful Sale
Selling your home through a residential real estate auction is a great way to quickly sell your property without the hassle of a traditional real estate sale. Besides knowing exactly when the deal will close, you don’t have to worry about negotiating with multiple buyers or making specifically requested improvements in order to sell. While you technically don’t need to do anything to prepare for your real estate auction, there are several things that we recommend you do so that you can get the best sale possible.
1. Clean Your Home
First things first, you’re going to want to clean you home. We take tons of photos of every property we auction off, which our bidders rely on when deciding if they want to come inspect the house in person and bid on the home. If your home is messy and dirty when we come to photograph it, the mess will be captured in the photo and could impact the value of your home. A messy house could also indicate to bidders that there could be more problems that the photos won’t be able to show. Afterall, if the past owner didn’t take care of the visible parts of the home – what have they been neglecting to care for that can’t be seen? We recommend that you grab your vacuum, mop, and sponge and clean everything in your home top to bottom. Don’t forget about washing the windows and power washing the siding. Then we recommend you have your kids stay with their grandparent’s until we come out to take the photos.
2. Make Minor Improvements
While our homes are traditionally sold As-Is, it can’t hurt for you to make a few updates that could drastically increase the value of the bids you receive. Replace outdated fixtures and hardware, slap a fresh, neutral coat of paint over that bright green wall in the bonus room, and do some minor landscaping (if snow isn’t covering the ground). These small touches can make a huge difference in the appearance of your home, pushing the bidding price higher and higher between the potential bidders.
3.Decide Between Absolute or With Reserve
There are two main types of auctions you can choose between for your residential real estate auction. A ‘with reserve’ auction means that there is a minimum price that the seller wishes to receive for their property in the auction. The reserve is not the same thing as the starting bid, merely a statement that tells us the lowest amount a seller would accept. Reserves make sure that you receive at least the baseline value of your home, and signals to bidders that they will have to realistically value the property if they want to win the auction. If you decide to sell your property this way and the highest bid doesn’t meet the reserve, you have two options. First, you can decide to not sell your property at all. You can go ahead and try to sell it a different way, or simply continue to live in your home. Second, you can lower your reserve and sell to the highest bidder in order to make the sale.
You can also choose to sell your home in an absolute auction. Essentially
this just means that there is no minimum bid and the highest bid will win the property no matter what. This is a great option if you have been sitting on a piece of property for a long time and just want to get rid of it. While you may have to make some small compromises in the final sale price, selling absolute will often bring in a larger number of bidders and almost guarantees that your real estate will be sold by the end of the auction.
4. Work with A Real Estate Auction Company
Make sure that you work with a reputable real estate auction company to ensure that your auction goes off without a hitch! We are professionals that auction off tons of real estate every year, and we know the real estate auction industry like the back of our hand. When you work with a company like us you don’t have to worry about anything, we will do all the heavy lifting and let you sit back and see the bids flowing in.
These are just a few things that you can to do get the most out of your residential real estate auction. We know that you will do everything in your power to make your auction fantastic and bring in the highest bid. If you are interested in selling your home through one of our auctions, contact us here. We can’t wait to work with you!
