5 reasons why selling at auction is your best option

Deciding how to sell your home might be even tougher than buying it in the first place. But with the red-hot January season coming up, there should be only one method to consider: auction.

Auctions are a method of sale that nets the best results when buyer competition is high, and there's no time when competition is hotter than the summer months. In fact, Ray White data shows that 47 per cent more sales occur in January then in any other month of the year. 

Here are five reasons why selling at auction might be perfect for your home.

1. Create a sense of urgency 

Lower interest rates and a shortage of Gold Coast residential properties has created a general sense of urgency for buyers in the area. Capitalise on this urgency by selling your home at auction. 

With an auction, buyers know that if they don't bid now, they may miss out. The atmosphere is electric, the auctioneers calls are exciting and buyers often find themselves worked into a frenzy. This is the perfect environment in which to sell your home, with buyers excited about your property and eager to purchase it on the spot. 

2. Competition among buyers

On the day, your auction may attract a number of buyers. They'll spy each other as they enter, sizing one another up, assessing the competition. This environment is exciting and fun for buyers, but it's even better for you, the seller. 

Most of us are inherently competitive, and when buying at auction high buyer competition tends to push prices up. Whether it's an all out 6-buyer bidding war or an intense one-on-one, the result is the same. Your property goes for more, and you reap the benefits. Sell your property at The Event and you might have as many as 2,000 buyers competing to buy your little piece of Australia. 

3. No cooling off period

The cooling off period lasts for five days, during which buyers have the chance to assess their decision and pull out of the sale. This is an excellent mechanism for protecting the buyer, but it can be frustrating for sellers who find their property is suddenly not going to move thanks to buyers remorse, or some minor problem.

At auction there is no cooling off period, and buyers have to do their due diligence before the sale. Once that hammer comes down your property is all but guaranteed to sell. 

4. An unconditional sale

Private treaty sales often leave the door open for buyers to negotiate contracts. They may want the sale to be conditional on their finance, the sale of their current property or a number of pre-purchase inspections they're carrying out.

With an auction the scales are weighed in your favour and you set the terms for the sale. As a result your sale can be unconditional – when the auctioneer makes his final remarks it's all over and your home has sold. This will make the process far easier, helping you avoid the disappointment of buyers pulling out at the last minute. 

5. Take part in the nation's biggest Auction event

If you're planning to sell this summer there's one date that has to be on your calendar – highlighted, circled and starred. It's 'The Event' – Ray White's yearly auction phenomenon, where over 2000 buyers flock to the Gold Coast Turf Club Event Centre for a chance to snap up hundreds of properties auctioned on the day.

At last January's Event Ray White's professional auctioneers and salespeople registered over 245 bidders and sold almost 80 properties in a single day. Register this year and your property could be amongst that lucky group of successful sellers!