SPOILER ALERT: It depends.
Firstly, let’s take a look at what are the methods of sale available to us in Queensland.
- Auction
- Private Treaty
- Tender
- “Off Market” (also called Pre-Market and various other terms)
AUCTION
In Queensland, the Auction market is not nearly as popular as some of our Southern States where a much larger percentage of properties are sold under the hammer.
What we mean by this, is that it’s now our buyer’s preferred way to buy the majority of properties on offer in our State.
Auctions in Queensland are generally used for higher-end properties, development sites, and properties where we can be sure that the buyers are able to bid at auction. This last point is where you need experienced agents like ourselves to help you decide if Auction is for you and your property.
PRIVATE TREATY
This remains the most popular method of sale which involves publicly listing and advertising the property for sale, in most cases with a price.
Buyers generally prefer to purchase via this method as there is an opportunity to add conditions to their offer: e.g. Building and Pest, or Finance clauses.
Correctly handled by an expert with the experience needed to keep all parties informed while giving every opportunity for those qualified buyers to compete for the property, this can reap rewards when we are looking for every last dollar out of a transaction for you as our Sellers.
TENDER
The least popular method of sale is also known as a “Silent Auction”. All buyers must submit their offers by a certain date when they are presented to the sellers for them to choose from.
It’s usually quite the guessing game for the buyers, and it requires the purchasers to be extremely knowledgeable about the market and where other potential buyers may be sitting in terms of price and terms.
Therefore this method is usually reserved for Development Sites where the interested buyers are usually very savvy and have a lot of knowledge to draw from – they also are usually making the numbers stack up and aren’t as emotional about the purchase.
“OFF MARKET”
You might have heard this term used over the years and it’s come to mean “not listed publicly on the internet” and is mis-named. “Off Market” in it’s truest form is when a property is not for sale.
We prefer to use the term “Pre-Market” and only use this method in extremely rare circumstances. There are many factors which come into a decision to list a property pre-market; it could be due to the Sellers not being able to present the property in a way that they are satisfied, a death in the family or a family break-up, an existing lease and not wanting to disturb the tenants – regardless of the reason, we also recommend that Pre-Market is used as a test for the Sellers to see if there is anyone who has been looking for a while and we can call to take through privately.
Often Pre-Market sales become On Market listings if a buyer isn’t found within a suitable timeframe.
THE VERDICT?
As we alluded to at the beginning of this article, if one sale method was the best for every property, by now it would have evolved to be the *only* sale method.
As you can see from the information above, there are lots of factors to consider when selling a property and the method of sale is just one of those decisions.
If you would like a confidential chat about your property, whether you are thinking of selling it in the next month, year or 10 years, call Kath Chown on 0458 912 906.
