OT Realtor vs. auction co.

I"ve noticed that sometimes people auction off their stuff, then sell the house through a realtor, and some people sell the belongings and house through the auction company. Are there certain benefits doing it one way or the other?

Greg...I would guess that selling a house via auction would be "quicker" on getting your money out of it. However, you would likely be giving up some control of pricing. I would suggest you find a trusted adviser or three and get some valid, impartial information.

Without giving away personal/family business information, please keep us informed of your progress.

Rick

Many auctioneers are also realtors. I assume those selling at auction have a reserve price and negotiated the commission.

If you are having a personal items auction, go ahead and advertise the house along with it. Then auction the house after the items slae. Put a reerve on it with the auctioneer. This will get you acouple of serious "lookers" . Make sure you get the names of the top two bidders.
If you don't get your price , THEN try other methods. Remeber at the auction that you are saving quite a bit by NOT listing it.

I went to an auction yesterday where they auctioned 185 acres of farm ground. I just went out of curiosity to see what the routine was in case we want to sell our farm sometime.

There was a reserve, 'cause at one point the auctioneer stated, "We've passed the reserve and the land WILL sell to the highest bidder". It sold for $5025 per acre, but that didn't separate tillable ground from timber, etc. Also, it was off the beaten path in an isolated location.

I visited with the auctioneer for a bit after the land sold, and he told me if we ever wanted to sell our farm, his commission would be 4%.

Biggest deal about the difference is that at auction the property is sold "as is, where is", and there are no warranties or special clauses in a sale. With a realtor, there will be about fifty pages of warranty and guarantee descriptions on condition, roof, mold, well, heating systems, etc. And the price will be higher on commissions because they are split four ways, with the most common commision being about 6%.

Hello donJr: Not true there is '50 pages' with realtor. There can be one page stating "as is" period. Either that of get another realtor. Period. If you own a property, you can state your terms. Take it or leave it. Of course the realtor will squeal out loud about why they don't like that.. This in my experiance after buying/selling over 30 residential properties in the far West Mpls/St Paul Mn Metro around Lake Minnetonka.
ag ret.

I was a realtor in Md. for about ten years. If you sell realty around here,it's about sixty pages if you are working with a realtor. The basic contract is 11 pages. All the addendums add up to another fifty or so pages now. Some of it is financing, some property issues, some area issues, even an addendum telling someone they are moving into a rural area with ag related activities that may have smells, flies, etc. All the realtors are playing CYA because everyone wants to sue someone ten years after they bought a house and just found a nest of termites. It's one of many reasons I got out of it about three years ago. When I started, a contract was only seven pages. You just ain't in a nanny state.

Goose,

Don't know where you are or what kind of farm you have but I don't know why any one around would use an auctioneer to sell a farm of any size. Auction folks take 4+% off the top and that can add up quick for any farm of any size. They will spend a bunch of money on advertise'n and the last two bid'n will be two farmers who farm right beside it. A few years ago a 1000+ acre farm sold here, auction company ran adds in Nation wide magazines, the Wall Sreet Journal, ect. The winning and contending bidder would have both been there if they had just stuck an index card on the wall at the local coffee shop.

Dave

The thing about an auction is, the people that bid will buy it that day, not three months down the road. I bought one house at auction, and my Mom is still living in the house they bought at an estate sale in 1973.

Realitor, you start with a high price and wait for someone to come along willing to pay enough to match your expectations. You might need to lower your expectations after some time, and it could take years until it sells if you keep high expectations.

Auction, you sell it this week, you close it in a month, and it's all done, you got the money out of it quick & easy. however, you got whatever money any 2 people were willing to offer that day for it, you have no control of what price it would be.

Of course there are reserves on auctions, and so on, but the basicis are above.

In today's climate, I would run an auction for farmland always. We are in a seller's market, farmers are bidding just stuupid these days, you'll do better selling farm land at auction.

For a building site only, I donno. It would depend on the situation. In today's climate you would be money ahead to realitor it, and sit a while and wait for the person with bucks and a dream to come along and match your price. It is a buyer's market.

For a house/building site, often there are several heirs that all have very different ideas on how to value the property, perhaps a next generation wants to buy it, another sibling thinks it's worth 3x it's actual value, and sibling #3 wants to spend the income from the sale yesterday already... In such cases, they default to an auction because they can't agree on how to sell it any other way.....

--->Paul