Want to sell property in a hurry?
Jackie Cameron
15 March 2010
Try an auctioneer. You'll be in for a pleasant
surprise
Residential property auctions have a reputation for attracting
big bargain-hunters and sellers in serious financial trouble - and
it's this reputation that the average estate agent will dangle in
front of a potential seller's nose. It's a reputation I largely
bought into, until my husband was offered a new job in distant
climes and we decided to test the property market.
Not wanting to heavily subsidise someone else's life in our
comfortable Cape Town home, we called some estate agents. Then we
called, and we called. No-one was in a hurry to do business. I know
property usually takes several months to sell, but I couldn't help
wondering whether this was perhaps because the average South
African estate agent has a passive work style after years of
knocking together easy transactions.
Enter Jared Gottschalk, the enthusiastic young agent working for
a top auction company, Rael Levitt's Auction Alliance. I'd
seen his number on an auction sign hammered to a neighbouring
property and had wondered what he made of the local market
conditions. The phone was barely down when Jared arrived to view
the property.
He was impressive: he paced, thoughtfully, through the property,
taking time to get a feel for who might like to live there.
"I've got buyers who might be interested," he said, explaining
that investors who had been unsuccessful in connection with similar
properties at other auctions might be interested in this particular
property. He had their details on his database and would be in
touch with them.
He came back later, with an information pack about auctions, an
overview of our property - including documents drawn from the Deeds
Office and everything a prospective buyer might want to know, right
down to what we paid for our home and the mortgage registered on
the property. The pack would be shown to potential buyers - and it
did not look like a pack I've ever been given by an estate agent.
It was warts 'n all, a transparent picture of what was being
offered up for sale, packed with clues about how negotiable we may
- or may not - be.
Gottschalk's estimate of what the property would sell for was
similar to that given to us by one other estate agent. It was a
realistic figure that resonated with us - not too high, not too
low.
After signing up, and agreeing to a confidential reserve price,
Gottschalk swung into action. True to his word, he brought in a
bevy of potential buyers who had been scouting for similar
properties at other auctions. Some of them were hardnosed
investors; others were young, first-time buyers looking for a
family home.
A billboard notifying passers-by of show days and the auction
date shot up above the garden wall.
Gottschalk placed massive advertisements in national newspapers.
Our property looked like the star of the show - a far cry from the
postage stamp size-ads that occasionally emerged in a newspaper
supplement the last time we sold our home through an estate agent.
The advertising was so loud that everyone who knew us and read a
newspaper called to find out why we were selling.
The property was also showcased on property search websites.
Aside from getting pictures taken for his company's impressive
brochures and site, Gottschalk called in
Private Property to take its own for its website search
area.
He held two show houses. And he reported back to us, regularly.
The weekend before auction day, Gottschalk said, after registering
a handful of seriously interested buyers: "I know who is going to
buy your property."
He was right. The young couple who also wanted the furniture
were the highest bidders.
The actual auction was an adrenalin-pumping business,
particularly in the final negotiation stages as the auctioneer, in
this case Rael Levitt, got us closer to agreeing the price. We were
reminded that auction sales are unconditional and that that the
buyer pays commission.
These well-groomed auctioneers were slick and assertive, from
the time they welcomed bidders as they arrived to soft rumba music
to the time they escorted successful buyers to an adjacent room to
sign on the dotted line. The attention to detail was astounding:
there were lawyers available for parties who didn't have their own
and credit card machines were available for deposit payments.
By the time we left the auction, with a complimentary bottle of
the finest Cape red from the auctioneer under our arm, the buyers
had paid their deposit for the property and our transaction was on
its way to the transferring attorney.
One month after meeting Gottschalk, our property was sold. Two
weeks later we moved out.