Advice on selling a house needed (urgently)

[Arron]

Hi. We are currently selling our Sydney home and I need some advice urgently.

I would like to hear from people who have sold by auction in the recent past, or otherwise have sound experience of auctions.

These are the facts.
We are selling by auction, and are about half way through a 4 week campaign.
We have currently had 2 Saturday open houses and 1 Wednesday.
There are 2 more Saturday open houses, plus 3 Wednesday.
Last weekend's Sydney clearance rate was 80%, but I think the local area clearance rate is a bit above that.

Here are the numbers.
So far we have had 33 parties through the house.
7 contracts have gone out.
We have had 3 offers. The offers are actually not far off what we want.

So I need to know how this compares to the usual selling experience:
1. is it above average, and indicative of a good auction result looming.
2. is this normal for a Sydney sale in the current market.
3. is it below par, indicating the auction may well struggle?

I guess I most want to know numbers other people experienced, and how the auction panned out.

I need to know this because we will need to make some hard decisions pretty soon, and we are new at this and have absolutely no information to base those decisions on.

My gut feel is that this is pretty good progress so far, but no way of knowing. None of our friends or family, it seems, have auctioned recently.

Its all very nerve-wracking, especially for my wife, making such big decisions with so little knowledge.

Your help is appreciated
Arron

[Chris Parks]

Observation of the market says go to auction and it will go for more than the reserve. Me, I would find someone in a real estate who has nothing to do with the house and pay for some advice and I would also be attending other auctions to see what happens especially any conducted by the RE doing yours. I have only sold one house so my experience is on par with yours.

[ian]

Hi. We are currently selling our Sydney home and I need some advice urgently.

I would like to hear from people who have sold by auction in the recent past, or otherwise have sound experience of auctions.
We have had 3 offers. The offers are actually not far off what we want.

So I need to know how this compares to the usual selling experience:
1. is it above average, and indicative of a good auction result looming.
2. is this normal for a Sydney sale in the current market.
3. is it below par, indicating the auction may well struggle?

an 80% clearance rate is very good.

the core question is -- how desperate are you to maximise the selling price?

from what you have said, at auction you should achieve or exceed your reserve.

The question for your piece of mind is: will you get an offer that is close enough to accept?
at an 80% clearance rate you should get your reserve at auction.

[rrich]

I have no experience with home auctions so I can't speak to that.

Selling
List your home with a realtor. Do NOT take bids from local realtors, "I can get this much for your home". Choose the realtor that seems to have the most signs on properties in your neighborhood and who has been around the longest.

There are realtors that will gather listings (properties for sale) and do little more.
There are realtors that actually market your house. This is the one that you want.

Most realtors are just like politicians, when their mouths move . . . . .

Beware of 'Sellers Points' or the funds that YOU pay so that the buyer can obtain a mortgage on the property. From experience, I would not ever advise anyone to take back the paper on the house. The odds are that you will have to foreclose on the property and sell it again.

[BamBam53]

My Mother sold her house is Sydney by auction in late 2014.

It was meant to be a four week campaign, but after the second open home the agent had five parties registered and someone made an offer. After some discussion with us, the agent took the offer to the registered bidders. There were a couple of rounds of offers and counter offers and mum accepted an offer well over what the auction reserve would have been. This all happened in six days.

I don't know what would have happened if it went to auction but my mother got what she thought was a good price and was happy.

[rustynail]

Every auction is an individual event. There are many factors that play a part in the success of your auction. The most important thing is a buoyant market,at 80% you have that. Next comes interested parties and how many contract copies are requested, that seems to be going well for you. So, on paper things look ok.
The only downside to auction is you pay, no matter what the result. If that fee will cause embarrassment, dont auction, just list and sell.
Personally, if I'm buying at auction, my final bid will reflect the fact I am here for a bargain. This would apply to any investor. On the other hand, we have the personal home buyer, desperate to get a roof over their head before prices go through same. Ah excuse me guys, I think that has already happened. So now they too are looking for a bargain.
So what to do? If your property would appeal to the masses...Auction.
If you require a quick sale...Auction.
If your property is located in a good auction result area and fits the bill...Auction.
Otherwise, list and sell in a strong market.