RE Pros: How To Prepare For The Auction Platform
By Coach Larry White
I was once told that the only thing consistent in our real estate market is change. Think about the cycles that we have seen in the last 10 years of real estate, what do you think the next 10 years will bring? Do you think it will stay a traditional buyer’s market? How about a seller’s market with constant appreciation year after year? Do you think the distressed market will come back?
No matter what you think the next 10 years will bring, I hope you are counting on the auction platform being involved. Now I can already hear most of you sighing in weariness and saying, “but I don’t like auctions,” “they are cutting out the realtor,” or “they don’t pay anything.”
Take a look at the facts:
- Google has partnered with Auction.com and invested $50M towards their auction platform
- Homesearch.com is now licensed in all 50 states and has access to local IDX feeds
- Studies have shown that auctions bring an average of 13 more offers than retail marketing and an average of $33,000 more
Now before we all start crying “the sky is falling,” I want you to take a deep breath and know that all of these companies need and want to work with local professionals such as yourself! In no way do these companies want to eliminate the realtor, they actually want to work with the realtor on a more consistent basis.
Look at where over 90% of home searches begin. Online! Think about the millennial generation (our next largest waive of home buyer’s). Are they tech savvy or not? Are millennial’s comfortable with online transactions? Of course they are!
So what are you going to do?
I encourage you to evaluate the situation in full before you make any snap judgments or stick your head in the sand like an ostrich and hope it goes away. Auctions are not going away and I want you to be able to leverage them and have a value ad for all of your clients in the near future.
In the past, auctions have been reserved for distressed properties and exclusive luxury portfolios. In the near future you will begin to see traditional real estate being marketed on the auction platform. Now imagine if you were one of the first to capitalize on this and specialize in this for your clients, the possibilities are endless.
What if the next listing presentation you walked into, you were able to say, “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Seller, if I could get you 13 more offers than my competition, over $30,000 more in value, and it wouldn’t cost you anything, would that interest you?” You bet it would!
The process is much too new to change your entire business plan to accommodate, but I do want you to take notice to the changes occurring in our profession so you can capitalize on the change in the near future.
I hope this has opened your eyes to some possibilities on the near horizon. I also hope you will use it to educate the public and increase your personal production in the real estate market.
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