At Concierge Auctions, we know luxury real estate. Our principals have touched every aspect of the business. In fact, we were born out of the brokerage community. As a result, our combined efforts have produced over $1B in sales — spanning 32 U.S. states and 14 countries — and our global Rolodex includes over 370,000 contacts.
We maintain a pulse on the top luxury markets worldwide.
Our expertise has earned us the “Best Overall Marketing” award from Who’s Who in Luxury Real Estate, named one of America’s fastest-growing companies by Inc. Magazine for the past three consecutive years, and Inman News’ selection of our President, Laura Brady, as one of the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders.
This seven-part blog series details how to develop a successful strategy for winning at a luxury real estate auction. Last week, we discussed how to narrow your search area. This week we discuss the importance of knowing the market. We hope you find it useful.
7 STEPS TO WINNING AT AUCTION PART TWO OF SEVEN: KNOW THE MARKET
Research the area
Every successful buyer knows that performing continual research will yield big rewards in second-home buying. Many buyers at auction have been looking at a property in the subject market for years. The hunt doesn’t have to be complicated. Regular searches using web resources and connecting with a local real estate agent in the target market can be helpful in determining true value for a property that piques your interest.
If you go it alone, you’ll have to know where to look. Using established property sites like Zillow, which organizes sale listings, tax assessments, and other property details for up to 10 years, can help a potential buyer understand the market.
However, it’s important to find and talk regularly with a local real estate agent who is well-versed in reading market trends. This is especially true if a buyer doesn’t have an immediate deadline for purchasing a property.
Partner with an agent
Establish a relationship with a local agent. Explain to the agent what you’re looking for, starting with your search area. Make sure you also include your must-haves: views, size of the property, interests within the area, etc.
Ask the agent to set you up on new properties in the market that meet your criteria. More importantly, ask them to send you the sold information on a periodic basis. This will give you a feel for what the market is doing, how many properties have been coming to market, how many are being purchased, and what type of prices people are paying.
This will help you determine market absorption, or how much activity there is in an area at a given time. Whether an area is considered a seller’s market (rate of five months or less) or a buyer’s market (six months or more) can help you decide the property’s real-time value, and whether you are getting a true deal when it’s time to move on a sale.
That move can come quickly.
Considering auction
What happens when a property you’ve had interest in or you think you have interest in is now going to auction? You have to make a decision fast — the property is going to be sold in four weeks.
Once you are familiar with the market and your dream property is going to auction, you’ll have to decide quickly whether or not to act. Next week, we’ll discuss considering auction when purchasing a luxury real estate property in part three of this seven-part blog series.