Daily Archives: January 8, 2021

How Do Online Real Estate Auctions Work

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How are online real estate auctions different from traditional in-person auctions?

Online real estate auctions work the same way as in-person auctions but are conducted virtually. This means no crowds. It is simply the auctioneer and the agent in a room (generally the office or the property), equipped with a camera and a couple of computers to live-stream the auction.

Online auctions provide the safety and comfort of being able to bid from your own home or anywhere you have access to a mobile device. This isn’t a bad trade-off for the “street theatre” and competitive environment that buyers would traditionally have to face.

As the seller, you will be able to log into the virtual auction platform to follow the interactive bidding happening in real-time. Every step of the way, you will know exactly what is going on.

How can buyers register and participate in an online auction?

As soon as a property is listed for sale, the listing should also appear on the online auction platform that will host the event. This is also where buyers must register. They can do this right up until the start of the auction. This is why your real estate agent will advertise this link in your marketing campaign.

To make sure potential buyers are comfortable with the process when auction day comes, your real estate agent will encourage them to register early so they can become familiar with the platform. They should also be encouraged to watch a few auctions prior, so they feel comfortable when bidding.

Is the bidding process the same?

The bidding process is exactly the same, and only the human face-to-face element is removed.

People can bid with confidence from behind the computer screen, very much like you would on eBay. Just like a traditional on-site auction, the auctioneer is ultimately the conductor. He/she can suggest increments to rise by, can accept or deny bids, and ultimately control the direction and the outcome of the auction. Bigger Equity

This means that the flow of bids and the process of bidding is still very similar, and buyers can feel increasingly comfortable bidding behind a screen. In fact, for most people, technology has always been an integral part of their lifestyle. This is why they believe that it minimises the pressure that an in-person auction would put on them.

What are the advantages of a virtual property auction?

Online auctions offer great benefits that will guarantee a successful sale.

Because buyers are bidding online from the comfort of their own lounge room, the pressure is usually reduced. It becomes easier for them to stay level-headed and make better decisions. At the same time, they can also consult with advisers that might not have been able to attend the on-site auction with them. This will help attract serious, quality buyers.

In some cases, using an online platform can also encourage more activity due to a fear of missing out. As bidders cannot see and gauge the other buyers, they might be tempted to bid more to try and get ahead of the competition. Buyers will feel the need to bid now before someone else takes their bid and beats them. This will help achieve a higher sale price for your property.

Are online auctions as successful as traditional in-person auctions?

No matter if the auction happens in-person or online, the success of it always comes down to the skills of the agent and auctioneer. This recipe for success will never change.

As an example, LJ Hooker Granville | Guildford recently sold 22 Fowler Road, Merrylands (NSW). This property was auctioned virtually using the Auction Now platform. After 51 bids between 8 registered bidders online and via telephone, it finally sold for $1,251,000, which exceeded the owners’ expectations. The buyer had inspected the property via a virtual tour at 9.30pm the night before the auction.

LJ Hooker Newtown recently sold 156 Denison Street, Newtown (NSW), a 2- bedroom terrace on 89sqm of land, by online auction for a whopping $1,753,000. That’s more than $500,000 over the $1,250,000 median sale price for a 2-bedroom house in Newtown (27 March 2020). There were 3 registered bidders on the property with 21 bids placed on the property.

With this sale, LJ Hooker Newtown established a new record. Indeed, this home was not only the highest 2-bedroom sale in the last three years in Newtown, but also the highest 2-bedroom sale on the street.

This example illustrates how efficient online auctions can be. At first, the owners who were not familiar with the virtual environment were concerned that people would not get emotionally attached to the property. But the sale of their Newtown home proved them wrong. In the end, they were ecstatic with the result and the seamless nature of the online platform. Moreover, they were astonished by the aggressive nature of the bidding.

5 Benefits of Using Virtual Staging to Sell Your Home

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The working-from-home revolution has propelled online activity into a new era as people become increasingly comfortable not having to be ‘in person’ for work meetings to catching up with friends and everything in between.

Digital tools to sell, buy and rent a home have also become the norm, contributing to better consumer experiences, especially when they are remote to where the property is located.

When it comes to selling your property, knowing that more than 90% of searches start online, it is crucial to find ways to stand out from your competition. Virtual staging can help achieve this, and it offers numerous advantages compared to the costly alternative of hiring furniture for what is a vacant home.

Virtual staging helps your property stand out

As 90% of searches for a property start online, it is crucial to grab the attention of prospective buyers straight off the bat and seize any opportunity for your home to stand out from the crowd.

This is when virtual staging comes into play. “It is the best way to bring a cold vacant home to life easily. It helps to show its full potential”, explains Brad Filliponi, Co-Founder of Box Brownie, one of the world’s leaders in virtual staging.

Thanks to beautiful images that also give potential buyers room for imagination, your property will increase its chances to make an impression and secure its spot on the list of interested buyers. Sell my house in Anniston

Help prospective buyers project themselves in the property

Many buyers struggle to project themselves in a home that is empty or not styled to their taste. But virtual staging can help prospective buyers with that so that they can create an emotional connection with the property, crucial for a successful sale.

The process is quite straight-forward. “A client uses vacant (or not) interior photos to fill the property for sale or rent with lifelike digital furniture. The idea is to show how or what the space can be used for. Most buyers find it hard to visualise an empty room and ‘see themselves in it’, so these edits can really become a silent salesman for your property”, says Mr Filliponi. Moreover, virtual staging works both on standard or 360 photos for virtual tours.

“The only potential downside of virtual staging is that the styling is not there upon inspection. But at least the seed has been planted”, notes Stephen Mutton, National Head Of Network Development at LJ Hooker. However, there is an easy way to overcome this potential hurdle.

Sellers can use easels in the empty rooms to showcase the printed virtually staged images. This will help remind prospective buyers of the potential of the property. And once the buyer’s attention has been caught and the decision made to attend an open home, you can then trust your real estate agent to do his job.

Virtual staging is more cost-effective than traditional styling

Traditional styling can be expensive. Depending on the location of the property (for example, this service is more expensive in Sydney than Hobart), the number of rooms and the time necessary to sell the home, it can cost anywhere between $1,500 and $10,000 or more. Therefore, you may be limited to only a couple of weeks in your budget. You may also be limited in the style of furniture you can select.

“The cost of traditional staging means that it can fall out of people’s budgets and it simply doesn’t get done, even though it’s deemed essential to get an edge on the competition. Therefore, with most property ownership journeys starting online, the less expensive digital styling ability is a more cost-effective solution”, says Mr Mutton.

The cost of virtual staging usually ranges between $30 and $120 per image depending on the supplier. That means that you can consider staging the home in two or more different styles to suit different audiences. You can also showcase more than one option for how to use a room. For example, a small bedroom could be presented both as a nursery and as a spacious office.

Benefit from fast turn-around (48 hours or less)

Unlike traditional staging, virtual staging only needs a few hours spent editing images on the computer to get the ball rolling. It doesn’t require the organisation of an initial consultation and all the logistics that come with sourcing and setting up the furniture in the property.

In most cases, you should be able to have all your images ready in 48 hours or less, depending on the supplier. This is much faster than the minimum of one week to set up physical staging, and much easier to organise. Moreover, there is no risk of damaging the walls or floors when moving the furniture in and out of the property.

Boost the selling price of your home

Appropriate styling can evoke an emotional connection to a property and a desire to want to live there. This means that correct styling increases the saleability of a property and the return is usually well worth the investment. Indeed, experts agree that home staging can increase the selling price of a property between 5 and 10% on average.

“Virtual staging shows people what the potential of the empty space is. This, in turn, will create a desire to want to live there or own it and ultimately increase the value and or competition on the property, explains Stephen Mutton. It works much like a car that you wouldn’t sell without washing it and showing its full potential.”