by Neil Jenman
Reading Time: Apx 3 mins
The lady’s words cut through me like a knife.
Auctions can “ruin your life”, she said.
Her story was clearly another auction tragedy. Another example of another decent, trusting but woefully naïve home seller put through Australia’s high pressure real estate auction system.
This lady was distressed enough to tell her story on a Facebook post.
She had been subjected to the usual method of over-promising on her sale price followed by weeks of gaslighting in the lead up to the crunch – auction day. That’s the day when pressure on sellers reaches its peak.
Only the strongest and most experienced sellers can resist such manipulative end-pressure of a public auction.
But then the strongest and most experienced sellers would never have signed up for auction in the first place.
Anyone who does even a scintilla of independent research will discover the truth. A public auction is the absolute worst way to sell a home. Any home. Any area. Any time.
Ever since I was a young agent years ago – and was ordered by my franchise to attend auction training – I have known what all decent agents know. The common auction system is an ethical disgrace. It is built on a foundation of deliberate carefully constructed mistruths. One lie on top of another lie.
A system that, if it is ever subjected to intense scrutiny, would be exposed for what it is – a massive fraud. A fraud that costs real estate consumers hundreds of millions of dollars a year – not just in obscene commission rates (How can any agent justify charging $100,000 or more to sell one home, in high-end areas), but also in the thousands of dollars in needless marketing costs followed, finally, by massive under-selling of their homes.
And it’s not just the hapless homeowners who are duped into believing that auction is the best way to get the best price (it’s not).
Home buyers are also duped and hurt.
Almost all buyers are given the nudge-nudge, wink-wink, come-on rot about the likely selling price. Only to find that the home was never in their price range. So many get their hearts broken and their wallets walloped.
For decades I have thrown out a challenge to any of Australia’s high-profile real estate auctioneers – those show ponies who relish yelling at emotionally terrified consumers with a hammer in their hand. Debate me about public auctions.
Try telling me the same things you tell consumers. Here’s one thing I know for sure – I’ll expose your manipulative methods like they have never been exposed before.
But, of course, no auction agent would ever have the courage (or be stupid enough) to accept my debate challenge.
Therefore, as you won’t debate me in public, I have devised another way to fight back against the damage (both emotional and financial) being done to the Australian public. It may cost me many thousands of dollars, but I am prepared to do it for as long as I can afford it.
Here’s my offer to home sellers who are considering selling by auction (or any other method).
I will give you a FREE copy of my acclaimed book (published 2022) which exposes what really goes on at real estate auctions.
The book is called 88 Reasons Why You Must Never Sell Your Home At Auction.
This is the book that home sellers love, and auction agents hate. It’s a book that shows sellers how to really sell their homes for the best price. It also shows sellers how to fight back against agents who push auctions.
When you discover the truth about auctions, you’ll know exactly what I mean. You’ll also discover 88 truths that 98 per cent of the population don’t know.
The lady’s words are seared into my mind. Her name is Antoinette. She sounds like a good and decent person – a classic auction victim. Her words are not hyperbole. They are true. As she said, a real estate auction “can totally ruin your life – seller beware”.
Don’t let auctions ruin your life.
Get a copy of my book and discover the truth about auctions. Please click here.
Thank you for reading my auction-fight-back-article.
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Footnotes:
John Csanki says:
Hello Neil, many years ago we too were burned badly with an incompetent agent and dodgy auction. Thank you for the advice in your books and the assistance from your office which has helped us greatly ever since, in both buying and selling. Here’s an idea to get the word out about auctions, start setting up a pop up stall on Saturdays close to selected auctions advertising and distributing your books, especially “88 Reasons Why You Must Never Sell Your Home At Auction”. That should start people thinking and talking!