The simple answer is no, not necessarily.
Once upon a time (10 years ago at least) some agents used to encourage the auction process over private treaty (for sale). Some of the reasons behind auction marketing favouritism was:
- Auction marketing is normally on a shorter time frame of 4 weeks, therefore increasing sales turnover and profit for the agent.
- Because of this shorter time frame, advertising was encouraged to be bigger and bolder to get the maximum number of buyers interested.
- Property agents like to see their names and portrait photos in print. The bigger the advertisement the bigger their profile! This was a time when print media was the unchallenged medium for real estate marketing.
- It was common for real estate bosses to incentivize auction listings over private treaty listings i.e. agents earn greater split of commission for auction listing.
10 years ago though real estate agents used brick-sized mobile phones too, so obviously things have changed.
Fast forward to 2010, where online advertising is now a huge part of real estate marketing and has helped to reduce marketing costs. It is now common for an auction advertising campaign to be similar in cost, if not cheaper, than a private treaty campaign.
With an auction campaign there is obviously the additional cost of an auctioneer, but marketing an auction campaign is limited to a 4 week period, whereas private treaty has no deadline and can drag on for months.
One of the positive results of this is that agents are now more inclined to promote and encourage the auction process only if it is suitable to the property and clients needs and not for the agents needs.
In the next blog I will cover ‘The Bidder’s Guide to Auction Day’. Until then!
Check out my last post on On-site vs In-room autions.
