Australia’s property market has been heating up over the past year and savvy agents have been able to use technology to their advantage to negotiate higher prices for sellers in multiple-offer scenarios.
A case in point is Rowena Ash, from Charles L King and Co First National at Echuca, who had four buyers interested in her listing at 4 Airdrie Court, at Moama – just over the NSW border – and a highest offer of $675,000.
With multiple offers on the table, Ms Ash recognised the current private treaty campaign would limit her ability to create competition and drive a higher price for her vendors.
“The owners were good friends of mine and they would have been ecstatic with $675,000,” she said.
“But I explained to them that our best chance of getting the highest price would be by allowing the buyers to compete openly through the Openn Negotiation platform.”
Conducted entirely online, Openn Negotiation lets pre-contracted buyers start bidding from day one. As the leading bid can be shown on real estate advertising portals, agents are able to be completely transparent with buyers, which results in increased momentum and fewer days on market.
After receiving the nod of approval from her vendors, Ms Ash switched her private treaty campaign to Openn Negotiation and had the original buyers register and submit their prices through the app.
On the night of the final bidding stage, the buyers bid steadily until the property sold for $725,500 – $50,500 above the highest private treaty offer.
Ms Ash said the vendors were “beside themselves”.
“I had one of them in the room with me, watching it all go down live, while the other was at work listening on the phone,” she said.
“One of the unsuccessful bidders, while disappointed, said they enjoyed the transparency and the ease of being able to bid at home with a coffee in hand,” she said.
This sale was Ms Ash’s first experience using Openn Negotiation but her agency has built a strong track record of results with the platform.
Charles L King and Co First National have run six successful Openn campaigns, where they achieved an average of $46,000 above reserve for their vendors.
“Both our buyers and sellers love the transparent nature of Openn Negotiation and the results speak for themselves,” said Troy O’Brien, Director of Charles L King and Co First National.
