Are Luxury Real Estate Auctions the Secret to Accelerating Your Listings?

Very much unlike fine wine, real estate listings don’t age well.

So how do you improve your chances of achieving a swift and successful sale?

To answer that question, we spoke with Jennie Heal of Supreme Auctions.

Supreme Auctions is the industry leader in accelerated marketing, which brings buyers and sellers together in a smooth, swift, and transparent transaction through luxury real estate auctions.

In our discussion, Jennie explained how simple repositioning adds a greater sense of urgency to your listings, and why professionals may want to consider including a luxury real estate auction within their real estate marketing strategy more often.

What’s Different About the Luxury Real Estate Auction Process?

“We don’t list properties,” Jennie says, “We market them.”

To create a sense of urgency and exclusivity around a listing, Supreme Auctions positions properties as an immediate opportunity versus just another piece of inventory to mull over at a buyer’s leisure.

“Our marketing message is very different from the traditional message. We’re marketing the panache of ‘Oh my gosh, this is a rare opportunity…’ because the buyer is given the opportunity to buy at their preferred price,” she explains.

While that may sound like this process favors buyers the most, Jennie also adds that Supreme Auctions often achieves a sale very near to the original asking price.

Plus, buyers always have the option to make an offer before bidding starts to secure the listing, giving all parties another great option to consider up front.

A Sense of Certainty May Be Appealing to Some Sellers … and Buyers

Though many agents see a luxury real estate auction as a last resort after a home has been sitting on the market for a while, urgency isn’t the only benefit of using a luxury real estate auction to sell a home.

For some sellers, the sense of certainty an auction can offer is a major selling point that can help win the agent their listing in the first place.

“Normally, we see in a traditional process that the buyers are negotiating against the seller and it becomes a back and forth negotiation. In our process, we take the seller out of the equation and let the buyers figure it out amongst themselves, so we keep the seller in a very safe position.”

Additionally, auctions can be a great initial strategy for very unique homes with a very specific buyer in mind, since those are the homes that tend to sit on the market longer if they aren’t backed by a strong real estate marketing strategy.

Even buyers get an extra boost of certainty from the auction process since homes have already undergone inspection and they know they’re purchasing the property as is.

The Process Can Be Mutually Beneficial

Though some agents may fear some loss of control over their listing, leveraging a luxury real estate auction successfully can function like a mutually-beneficial partnership.

“We always want to keep the luxury agent in connection with any conversation we’re having with their client,” Jennie says. “We come in as the agent’s specialist…we answer questions for their clients and help them navigate the process to see if their property is a good fit.”

And, since Supreme Auctions has spent nearly a decade curating an extensive network of agents, buyers, and investors, their open houses can sometimes bring in up to a hundred or more buyers– a number of whom are unrepresented.

In fact, using a luxury real estate auction to sell a listing tends to have a ripple effect throughout the local market.

Jennie mentions one trend Supreme Auctions is noticing over the years is that in fast-moving markets, the presence of one auction property tends to slow down the properties for sale around it.

On the flip side of that, in slower-moving markets, an auction property tends to stimulate more activity.

Want to Know More About Partnering With Luxury Real Estate Auctions?

To help real estate professionals become more acquainted using luxury real estate auctions as their initial real estate marketing strategy for special properties, Supreme Auctions will begin to offer certification courses for agents this coming September.

Plus, Institute Members receive a referral bonus for their first luxury auction.

See more Member benefits here.