Auctioning a house with a “round robin auction” can be a great way to sell in todays market as a beginning or experienced real estate investor! In this www.rei-tv.com episode, we talk about real estate investor “round robin” house auctions.
Auctioning a house can be fun, challenging, eye opening, and PROFITABLE… but you need to use your noggin! From proper marketing, to staging the house, and all the way to the round robin auction itself, you need to be prepared! A properly run auction can move a house like a finely oiled machine… but the machine has to be tuned, toned, true, and together! (tu-dumm!) Auctions let you sell houses quickly, sometimes as fast as 5 to 7 days from acquisition, but be prepared for a LOT of work over a short period of time… and they key… as in a lot of real estate investing, is marketing! Investors that learn this technique and have the resources to put it in place, have a tool in their real estate investing tool-belt that many others lack. It takes a pretty big marketing budget, but can sell a house in tough times.
Here’s some things to be do as you plan the big day:
- Start advertising the Sunday before the auction
- Make sure you’re in the “big” newspaper the prior Sunday, AND the Sunday of the auction (and daily as well!)
- Start promoting the auction on Craig’s List, Kijiji.com, and Backpage.com 10 days prior to the big day
- Put out from 100 to 500 bandit signs if possible, in two “runs”, the prior weekend, and the Friday before the event
- Postcards announcing the event should be sent to the surrounding area
- We have kids with HUGE signs on the major intersections directing people to the home
- Advertise the property around 55%-65% under the ARV
- Advertise you’ll accept the “Highest and Best Reasonable Offer”
- A term that draws, is “Best Bidder Home Sale”
- Have a website and “800 number” offering free information about the property and auction rules
- Stage the house if possible
- Have plenty of help on the auction days, usually Noon to 5:00 Saturday and Sunday
- Have handouts for attendees that include home details, room sizes, amenities, auction rules, appraisal info, comps, etc
During the event, attendees write down their bids after taking the tours. Encourage everyone to bid, even if it’s only $1.00. This allows you to call them during the actual “auction” held Sunday night.
You call the highest bidder 1st, asking if they want to raise their bid. You then go down the list, highest to lowest bid, and people either place a higher offer, or drop out. Once you’ve went down the whole list, you go back to the tops, and start over again.
Eventually, you are left with one person… who gives earnest $ and goes into contract the next morning… SOLD!
I’ll point out that these ARE a lot of work… and expensive to market… that’s the downside, but you will find the “true” market value of the house, and like any deal, if you “BOUGHT RIGHT”, you’ll get the check!
Now, go make an offer!
