To bid or not to bid that is the question?
I get asked a lot.
I loved a bit of Shakespeare back in high school!?
I spent a few months locked away in the library in Year 10 with my good mate Liam Ferney. I was trying to read as many plays as I could and trying to establish Bill’s relevance on the 20th century. Liam got an A+ and I failed miserably, hence the auctioneering.
But what I missed with the early English playwrite I have picked up on the street performances today.
I regular get the question “Should I bid? How should I bid? And when should I throw my hand up?”
With more auctions about to hit the Brisbane market I’ll give you some of the strategies I’ve seen over the last 20 years.
The characters:
The Bomber: This is the buyer with a good understating of the market, chasing their home and happy to pay a fair price.
It’s competition that drives prices, so these people don’t feed the beast, they work out their best price and then open the bidding at that figure. If someone else bids they walk away.
Rarely used, but when dropped its very effective.
Smiling Assassin: This buyer is a little more mainstream.
They open the bidding at a reasonably low figure (identifying themselves as a bidder) and then don’t bid again until the property is announced ‘on the market’ or the bidding stops for instructions’. This game plan helps identify you as a bidder and will see the agents/auctioneer involve you in negotiations.
Silent Assassin: Similar to the Smiling Assasin, however this buyer won’t bid until the last minute, sometimes only placing one bid right at the end. Most common strategy in Queensland and the reason we see so many properties sell after auctions. Of course, you’ll only bid when the property is announced on the market, it’s like the chicken and the egg, without bidding the property can’t go on the market.
I’m to cool for school (Itcfs): This buyer has either heaps or no experience. They play the role of disruptor, antagonist or prickly buyer and usually doesn’t see this buyer win at auction. Residential real estate is quite emotional, whether you like it or not and most owners don’t want to sell their home to the person that tried to ruin their auction. A good auctioneer will usually enjoy the battle and generally walk away with a scalp.
Fonzey: This buyer is the antithesis of the ‘Itcfs’, coincidentally they are also either very experienced or very inexperienced. They are generally friendly, obliging and engage in bidding. This is one of the most common strategies of successful bidders. They do have confidence (hence Fonzey), they will increase bids to the next round number and don’t get flustered during bidding. They chat, relax and smile. Everyone usually wants this buyer to win.
Whichever role you play in this modern day street theatre, if you don’t bid, you genuinely risk not buying. Owners go to auction to sell, bidding is essential to buy under the hammer and without it there’s no happily ever after.