Eric Michael posted an interesting blog a few months back about real estate auction sites entitled:Real Estate Auction Sites Suck. Yowza! It seems he had a rather unpleasant experience with one of the several nameless, faceless, foreclosure mill auction houses in cyberspace. Now, me being an owner of a warm, fuzzy, consummately interactive auction site tailored exclusively to the needs of Realtors®, found it necessary to call Eric to find out just what had made him so bitter. Quite frankly, I was not at all surprised by what he said.
1. Buyer was charged a 5% buyers premium if they won the auction.
2. Buyer could not have a financing or inspection clause.
3. Commission was reduced fom 3% in the MLS to 1% by the auction company.
I'm not sure that Eric realized initially that he was preaching to the choir on this topic. I wholeheartedly agree with him. The big auction houses are taking Buyers, the banks, Fannie, Freddie and Realtors® for a ride. Admittedly, they do move inventory, but at a very steep price and to the detriment of the market as a whole.
I explained to Eric how our system works:
1. Buyer pays a 1% Buyers Assurance fee if, and only if, they use our online auction module to arrive at their final contract price. They can use our paperless Make Offer feature or Buy Now feature for free.
2. Buyers bid on what is offered for sale in the MLS, nothing more, nothing less. If the Seller will accept a financing or inspection contingency, that's fine.
3. Commission structure offered in the MLS stays intact. Buyer's Agent nor Listing Agent give up a dime of commission.
4. The Realtor® remains in control of the entire process, including setting the minimum bid, reserve, and auction start/stop time (with Seller approval of course). It works for REOs, Short Sales, and Non-distressed.
We had a great conversation about BidOnRealty, where we are going and the industry in general. I love it when someone has had a negative experience that we can change into something positive by pointing out how unique and powerful our business model really is. He was going to get signed up with us when he got to his computer. I think we have another "convert". Thanks Eric. And thanks Active Rain for building such a wonderful community of "forward thinkers."
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