BID TO KEEP SELLING

With coronavirus rules restricting in-house and outdoor auctions, real estate agents are relieved to find the online equivalent is succeeding

PROMISING results have followed a smooth transition to online property auctions for Cairns real estate agents.

A number of homes from different price points will be up for auction next Tuesday, including a tidy double-storey six-bedroom home in Whitfield.

Sitting on a 660sq m corner block and with a blue-chip address, 1-3 Atherton St has generated a lot of interest, RE/MAX Cairns co-owner and auctioneer David Murphy says.

He said the spacious home was perfect for a large family, but could also present an attractive opportunity for the astute investor.

“It has the option to make a dual income if someone wanted that,” he said.

“Downstairs is fully self-contained and completely separate from upstairs.

“It’s a huge house, it’s got a nice big pool at the back, it’s private and secluded. And anything in Whitfield – people want to live there, so hopefully we’ll see a good turnout online.”

David’s brother and RE/MAX Cairns coowner, Ray Murphy, said the agency had great results at this week’s online auction – their first since the coronavirus-imposed shutdown of inhouse and outdoor auctions.

“We had seven auctions on Tuesday and we sold one prior to auction, one under the hammer and we’re negotiating on the others at the moment,” he said.

“We had 19 people livestreaming the auction, including one in Melbourne and one in Sydney, then the rest were all in Cairns.

“It certainly was a different way of selling properties via auction, but it actually was quite comfortable and all the buyers that were bidding were at ease,” he said.

“Probably 50 per cent of the properties that we sell are from telephone bidders anyway, so it wasn’t that unusual; it was just more unusual seeing the auctioneer talk to a laptop.”

Ray Murphy said he was pleased with outcome and the level of interest still being generated by genuine buyers.

“It’s given us and our current and future vendors confidence that this method of sale is still possible,” he said.

“The livestreaming is probably better than ever right now, because people can actually watch it from the comfort of their own home.”

Ray White Cairns Beaches principal Paul

Stirling also held auctions last week, with positive results.

“It was Cairns’s first online auction,” he said. “Two properties were represented – an extralarge three-bedroom townhouse at Holloways Beach, comprising 257sq m, and the other property was a two-bedroom townhouse at Manunda. Both had multiple persons registered to bid, both interstate and local and both were sold under the hammer.”

Mr Stirling said it proved the real estate industry was still moving, but the modus operandi was different

“It’s good to know that buyers are adapting quickly as well,” he said.

“They will always adapt to whatever market conditions are thrown at them when they’re genuinely looking to buy property.”