Auction or Private Treaty: what's best for me?

When it comes to selling the family home, most vendors are unsure about which method is the best for their property. There are two main differences between selling your home at auction or private treaty: (1) the length and (2) the intensity of the marketing campaign.

 

Private treaty is the most common method of sale in Australia today. It is a quieter and more subtle approach. A few considerations when choosing private treaty are:

 

1. If you are not in a rush to sell your property, you may set the asking price and wait for a buyer prepared to pay your asking price.

 

2. Placing a price on your home will generally ensure that the asking price set will be the maximum you will receive - rarely do buyers offer more that the asking price.

 

3. Little urgency may be felt by potential purchasers to buy your home, due to the unlimited time frame imposed by private treaty.

 

4. Advertising costs can be high as a result of the need to market the property over an extended period of time.

 

During an auction, a property is marketed extensively for a set period and is designed to create interest in the marketplace and strong competition between buyers. Because of this, there are many reasons why sale by auction is effective.

 

Firstly, there is a set marketing period and a final end date, so it is easier to try and plan dates for your move. There is no ‘cooling off’ period, which means that when the house sells at the auction, it's definitely sold. You also have three opportunities to sell. You can accept an offer prior to auction, you can sell on auction day, or if you decide not to sell on the day, you can sell later by negotiating with the buyers generated by the marketing campaign.

 

When discussing the sale method of their property with their agent, a vendor should also take into account their own personal circumstances. If they need to sell the property fairly quickly, sale by auction should be considered over private treaty purely for its sense of urgency.

 

To discuss what’s right for your home, give us a call today.

 

All the best,

 

Joshua Wygoda

Century 21 – Mosman

02 9968 1700