AUCTION ACTION IS LIVE AND ONLINE

Going once, going twice, sold to the gentleman sitting at a computer in his office in Sydney.

It’s official – you really can buy anything over the internet, including the home of your dreams, the perfect investment property or even a nice little holiday home thanks to RE/MAX Sunshine Coast.

 

The innovative company is about to break new ground by using modern satellite technology to broadcast the auction action as it happens with the winning bidders participating from their pool side lazy-boy or their office in, well, anywhere really.  

 

RE/MAX director Tony Nash said he’s excited about bringing this new technology to their clients and also about the opportunities that this technology will bring to the industry as it gains momentum.

 

“Bidders will be able to view the action live as it happens, they will see the auctioneer’s face and hear his voice as well as other bidders via their computer’s speakers, wherever they are.

 

“More importantly though they will also be able to bid and win which means international, interstate and even local bidders who cannot physically be present for an auction will be able to have the same advantages as those who are in the room,” Mr Nash said.

The company’s first online auction will be held on February 20 with 12 properties to be taken to the market. While this is a first for RE/MAX Mr Nash said the idea and technology was already being used for car auctions in America and Australia. Pickles Auctions in Australia are the leaders in their field with more than 20 per cent of sales going to on line bidders.

But it is certainly new ground for the real estate industry.

 

There are many advantages to taking auctions online, and one of the most important is that people who want to follow an auction can do so without losing a large chunk of their day.

 

“We realise busy people are ‘time poor’ and this is a way of allowing them to be present without losing valuable time getting to and from an auction,” Mr Nash said.

 

“Bidders will have to be pre-registered and those pre-registered bidders will have access to the latest market data including a comparative market analysis of the property they are interested in before the auction,” Mr Nash said.

“It will be as if they were actually there in the room but they won’t have to have caught a plane or use a mobile phone and make their bids through an agent.”

 

He said he believes online bidding will make the auction process easier and more convenient as people become used to the idea.

And it’s not just the buyers who will benefit from the expanded access to the process.

Mr Nash said vendors would have a better chance of achieving the best possible price because their potential buyers won’t be limited to those who are interested and available to be there on the day of the auction.

“I’m confident that in time this new process will become more widely used across the industry and we are very excited to be the first to bring this to our clients,” Mr Nash said. 

 

But they haven’t done it alone. In an innovative partnership RE/MAX has joined forces with an IT specialist company to ensure the smooth running of the event. The Sunshine Coast –based company, VITIL IT (www.vitilit.com.au) will be providing the technological support for the first live auction.