An auctioneer's guide to winning the bidding on the day
Turning up to an auction to bid on your dream home can be a daunting experience.
But going in with a bidding strategy can help ease some of those nerves and also give you an edge over other bidders.
Money reached out to Andrew Cooley, partner and auctioneer with Cooley Auctions, to find out which strategies he recommends.
1. The show of strength
When the auctioneer asks for an opening bid, get to work.
"As soon as someone else bids, you bid straight away," Cooley says.
You want to create the illusion to the market that there's no limit to the budget and you won't stop.
"We see it at many auctions where a buyer takes that strategy, and another bidder may say to me when I ask for another bid, 'sorry, this person's just not going to stop,' but that buyer may be near their last bid."
"If I was bidding at auction, this is the strategy I would use."
2. The split
Start the bidding, bid hard to a certain point, then stop. But just at the very end when it looks like it's about to sell, go back in if you can still afford to.
"You want the market to think, this guy's back in, he's not going to stop."
Cooley suggests dropping down your bids to $1000 increments so you have more bids to play with.
3. Go hard late
The final strategy is the opposite of the first two. Here it's all about the waiting game.
"You want other bidders to think 'far out, this guy's only just starting now, and we're near the end of the limit so what's the point even trying'."
Do your research
Cooley also suggests doing research on the specific auctioneer responsible for the property you're after.
"We have a number of strategies we use to get the buyers to start the bidding and keep bidding."
And each auctioneer is different.
"What do they want in an opening bid? How long do they spend trial-closing? Do they announce whether the property is on the market?"
Doing this will give you an idea of the probable flow of the auction and also help alleviate some nerves.
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