1. Have your purchasing entity organised (trust SMSF etc) or person will be on title.
2. Get finance pre-approval so you know your budget and attend the auction ready to write a deposit cheque. We will certainly help you with this whole process, in fact we might be with you at auction upon your request.
3. Attend many auctions to experience the atmosphere and observe different bidding strategies. In particular watch the auctioneer who’ll be selling the property you’re interested in to learn his particular techniques and the words he uses.
4. Do your research by inspecting many properties and seeing what they sell for (not just the asking price).Know the market, know the value of the property in question and be armed with that power so you can identify a ‘walk-away’ price – the highest price you’re prepared to pay.
5. Show your solicitor the contract and organise any amendments to the contract he suggests. For example anything to be fixed
What to do on the day ?
1. Inspect the property multiple times, survey the landscape – see who else is there. Do they look like serious bidders or just onlookers?
2. Open the bidding high, close to where the reserve will be (the property won’t sell below this) and make your bids fast and assertive. Procrastinating or agonising over your next bid is a sign of weakness.
3. Call out your offer in full (in other words say $575,000 instead of the increments just $5,000).
4. If it’s going to pass in, make sure you are the highest bidder, as this allows first right to negotiate with the vendor.
5. Be prepared to miss out. Stick to your ‘walk-away’ price. After all you’ve done your homework and you know what this particular property is worth to you. If you miss out on that property auction, accept that it wasn’t meant to be and look forward to finding something better soon.
