Yet another article about auctions in The Age, where the capital city of Auctions, Melbourne, comes in under scathing attack from some BA's on the practices that make it difficult for purchasers to get a fair deal. http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Art...=NationalIndex&headline=Which price is right? I still support the idea that the reserve price for any auction should be disclosed to all interested purchasers prior. At least it provides buyers with a fair chance and saves them wasting their hard earned dollars on something they never had a genuine chance at in the first place (not to mention the emotional stress often caused by misinformation).
I always thought the reserve price should be known and that price can be used as the "expected" sale price. I have never understood how an auction can go 10-15% above the expected sales range yet still not hit the reserve price.
Range creep I am looking at areas not far from Hawthorn and another phenomenon I have noticed is the buyer range going up slowly over the period that its advertised; especially from a particular RE that is very active in that area. So whenever I see a new property from them with certain amount as range, I know its gonna go up 50-80k (10%) more closer to the auction date. But generally I think the market (areas I am looking) is so hot compared to 6 months ago that its hard put a range based on previous sales and be accurate. PB
Good point, as in rising markets, emotions can run even higher as buyers suffer from "missing out" anxiety when buying, especially at auction.
Jacque, I hope you'll be pushing for the minimum price that vendors would accept in a sale by negotiation to be disclosed also, not just the advertised price.
