I’m not much of a gambler. But a year or so ago I found myself at a blackjack table with no idea what I was doing, with a group of friends with maybe half an idea between them and the dealer looking at me with dead eyes asking ‘sit or hit?’ But as the night moved on and the number of losing hands started to outweigh the winning ones, I found the advice from my friends increase, referring to ‘the books’ advice and the dealer watching on with the same steely stare. As I busted my last hand, she gave me a well-intentioned smile and my also well-intentioned mates told me ‘it shouldn’t have played out that way’. I think I know how that dealer felt. I am experiencing it at auctions more and more.
First home buyers are lined up at auction, surrounded by ‘advisers’ and they are winning or losing. Since that night I have started giving buyers advice as they move through their bidding plan. I’ll encourage them to ‘round up’ their bid or bid fast, even at times I’ll tell them it’s not a race and to take their time. This first home buyers market is bullish, and friends with half an idea can be very costly. The buyers who are winning more than losing are the experienced, the professional or unfortunately (like in cards sometimes) the clueless. You must enter the auction floor with a strategy and that strategy in this market must start with bidding. A strategy without bidding, is not a strategy. You can only buy if you bid and waiting just makes you someone else’s passenger.
The professional buyers do three things that I see work. The first is they make themself known to the agent as a bidder, it stops the agent from selling the property to another buyer prior to auction. The second is they bid with a strategy, either by bidding first or quickly or rounding up – but always with a plan. Thirdly, if bidding stops prior to the reserve they negotiate through the auctioneer or agent to try to get the property on the market and they quite often do. So if you want any chance of beating the house by buying the house, I’d listen to professionals not the Monday experts.
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