Many home sellers in Liverpool take their property to Auction after failing to sell by Private Treaty, often having turned down offers they didn’t think were good enough. Their thinking is that they will use Sale by Public Auction at this point to flush out that high price they ‘know’ is really out there somewhere. But is this strategy likely to work?
Vendors often think they will start by marketing their property by Private Treaty at an inflated price just to see what happens, thinking they will sell if they get the right offer. Many tell their agent ‘If I don’t get my price I can always auction it.’ But they just haven’t considered the what is likely to happen at Auction when months of marketing at an inflated price haven’t secured the dream price they were looking for.
Sadly, by the time the vendor has given up on Private Treaty, the property is likely to be over-exposed and it will attract bargain hunters, no matter what method of sale is used. Valuable time has been lost, and unless the market is trending up, the sale price is likely to be lower than if it had sold more quickly.
Once a property has been on the market for a long time, buyer interest falls. Auctioning at this point rarely creates the competition needed for a high price. Buyers know the vendor is unrealistic and often stay away from the auction – a death knell to hot bidding. The best case scenario is that the auction will attract bargain hunters – another great way of keeping the price down.
In reality, no method, used as a last resort, will deliver optimum results. Holding out for an inflated price, no matter which marketing method a vendor starts with, will usually end badly – no matter how good the ‘last resort’ selling technique of choice is. There is no safety net fix-it strategy for selling over-exposed properties.
Whichever method a vendor chooses to sell their property in Liverpool it is important to do proper research into the market in their location and set the reserve (Auction) or the asking price (Private Treaty) so that the property sells within the first month or so of marketing.
