As surely goes without saying, there are both upsides and downsides to listing a home for sale via auction. But especially right now, as the market continues to gain in value, the pros seem to outweigh the cons by a very heavy margin.
Listed below are just three benefits of listing your home for sale by auction instead of via other methods. As you’ll see, these are no minor perks – but instead may be the key to achieving a sale that meets your hopes and needs.
1. The possibility of receiving a price above market value
This is, of course, the primary attraction of selling a home by auction: The chance that you may receive an even higher price than you would otherwise.
This can happen because the nature of auctions prevents bidders from properly measuring the home against the price you’re expecting, or because your marketing techniques have inflated the value in the eyes of many bidders, or even just because the bids themselves create a sense of competition that inflates the price in the moment of the auction itself.
Regardless of the reasons in any specific case, many auctions lead to home sales far above what the owner may have requested on the listed markets – and for many, that is the primary benefit of listing for sale in this manner.
2. No leeway on your terms and conditions (including the date of sale)
When you list your home for sale via auction, you set the terms and conditions of the agreement, and the winning bidder is then bound to agree to them. So for those wary of the negotiation process, or for any homeowners that would prefer to set conditions they know to be ironclad, the auction process offers a level of stability that other forms of property sale simply cannot provide.
3. When you prepare an auction properly, there’s no worst case scenario
Because you can set a reserve price on an auction – and, if that reserve price isn’t met, contact the highest bidder in an attempt to negotiate further – there really is no “worst case scenario” for an auction, as long as you set those boundaries correctly. With the right reserve price, you can literally guarantee that you won’t leave the auction disappointed, whether the sale is made or not.