It was gamble that could have cost him dearly, but a vendor’s decision to take his three-bedroom brick and tile South Auckland home to auction with no reserve has paid off.
The vendor’s property on Carisbrook Crescent, in Papakura, sold for $827,000 on Saturday after strong bidding, with a young family the eventual winners of the Harcourts auction.
Harcourts Pukekohe auctioneer and sales agent Dan Hewes told OneRoof the result was a win-win for both the vendor and the buyers.
“The house sold under the hammer for $827,000 and there was quite a good turnout in terms of bidders at the auction,” Hewes said.
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“We had a vendor who was over the moon with the result. So were the purchasers.”
Hewes had previously told OneRoof that the vendor had chosen a no reserve auction because he “wanted to send a clear message to the market that he is seriously selling”.
“He’s not one of these people that are just testing the market to see what the market says. He’s selling it, that’s it, you know.”
The strategy could have backfired on him. Selling without the safety net of a reserve could have resulted in the property being picked up for a crippling low price.
Hewes had said it was the first no reserve auction he had ever come across in his 33 years in real estate.
The sale price was just under the property’s 2021 CV of $850,000.
Hewes said the OneRoof news article on the auction, published last Wednesday, had heightened interest in the property.
“Thursday and Friday it just went ballistic. I think I got like 50 enquiries or something,” he said.
“I’m quite happy to stand up and say thank you, OneRoof, awesome.”
Hewes said there was quite a mix of buyers at the auction, including first-home buyers, investors and existing homeowners. “There were people enquiring right up to the last minute. It really stirred the market up,” he said.
“We even had flippers, who like to buy, tidy up and sell, but they were probably never going to be the ultimate buyer anyway because they only like to buy things well below what they’re worth.”
Hewes said the buyers were very excited to win the auction. “You know, very enthusiastic about it. It was just a good low-maintenance brick and tile property,” he said.
Most properties go to auction in New Zealand with a set reserve – the price at which the vendor is willing to sell. Auctioneers typically keep the reserve under wraps until it has been met, but some properties do go to auction with declared reserves, some as low as $1.
However, “no reserve” auctions are a rarity, and are often associated with properties that have significant flaws. This was not the case with Carisbrook Crescent, which was a solid, low-maintenance brick and tile home.
Properties that are advertised with ultra-low or no reserves run the risk of selling for an extremely low price, but Harcourts national auction manager Shane Cortese told OneRoof last week that most generally end up selling at market value.
“The no-reserve options generally get to where they should be in the market. You tend to have more bidders because people are expecting to get a bargain,” he said.
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