Tips for bidding at an auction & how to prepare for auction day

• Go and watch other auctions in the days or weeks leading up to the property you are interested in bidding on.  Listen to the terms and conditions that the auctioneer reads out so that the language becomes clear to you.
• When it comes time to setting a limit, and we’ve all got to have one, try and think in terms of a range of three different price points; the price you’d feel like you got it for a bargain, where you think it quite possibly realistically sits in the market, and finally a figure that if push came to shove and you’re down to the smallest of bid increments you’d pay if you were planning to spend the next 20 years in it.  This way, at different points in the auction you can refer back to these figures and bid accordingly.
• Get to the auction in plenty of time.  The amount of people that leave it to the last minute and arrive flustered is incredible.  If immediately before the auction you are still feeling rather nervous about the whole thing, go up and introduce yourself to the auctioneer.  We are a friendly bunch!  It’ll put you at ease and the auctioneer can also give you some last minute tips to make you feel more comfortable.
• Have a meeting with the listing agent, or the agent that you are working with, a day or two before the auction to discuss a strategy.  The agent obviously cannot disclose the reserve price, or any other confidential information if they have met with other interested parties, but they can give you advice on what could happen in certain scenarios.
• Open the bidding.  First because it lets people know immediately that you’re there and that you are keen.  You want to give an impression that you have an infinite budget (even though of course you don’t) so that other bidders lose confidence as they think their chances of beating you are slim.  Secondly, if you don’t the auctioneer will.  And the auctioneer will do so at a low level to encourage all potential parties to get in and start bidding.  Once these parties have entered proceedings it will build their confidence and you may have to bid against more people that you need have if you’d opened the bidding at a more realistic level.
• Bid promptly, and loudly.  Not to the point of rudeness, but again it’s about sowing the seeds of doubt into other bidders’ minds that you are in it for the long haul.

If you would like to meet with Anita or Kieran to discuss a strategy to bid at auction, please contact Anita on 021 337 093 or anita.dobson@harcourts.co.nz.