Bond Wolfe Auctions’ decision to cancel its May auction and hold its first remote bidding only auction in June paid off handsomely.
The 131 lot auction raised £17 million with a 98% success rate – breaking Bond Wolfe Auctions’ own record for the most successful Midlands auction ever.
But the auction held on Wednesday 24 June proved so popular it nearly didn’t start at all.
The start was delayed when the third-party site hosting the online bidding system crashed due to the sheer volume of bidders logging in.
Prior to the auction day there were 25,381 phone call inquiries and 107,513 legal documents were downloaded.
The auction had over 3,000 registered bidders on the internet, on telephone and proxy and on the day, 28,786 watched the auction live.
Gurpreet Bassi, chief executive of Bond Wolfe Auctions, said:
“Having taken the very difficult decision to cancel our May auction, as we felt that it was the only responsible and safe action to take during the peak stages of the pandemic, this was our first ‘behind closed doors’ remote-bidding only auction.
“When the auction did finally begin, bidders were chomping at the bit and we achieved some fantastic results.
The hosting company tell us this was a record number of bidders for any single auction that they have ever experienced!”
Highlights included a three bedroom, semi-detached house in Sheldon, Birmingham, selling for £187,000 from a guide price of £25,000.
A four bedroom, detached property in Oldbury sold for £250,000 from a £99,000 guide price.
In the East Midlands, a three bedroom, semi-detached house in Leicester sold for £172,000 off a guide price of £60,000.
Investments sold well also, with a three bedroom property in Quarry Bank, Brierley Hill, which was offered with a guide price of £74,000 finally selling for £138,000.
In Warwickshire, a six bedroom, semi-detached house in Kineton realised £296,000 from a £150,000 guide price.
Back in the Black Country, a three bedroom semi-detached property in Oldbury sold for £196,000 of a guide price of £50,000.
But the sharpest “virtual” intake of breath was reserved for a £1 million plus result when Church Garth, a six bedroom former gentleman’s residence in Bickenhill, Solihull, close to Birmingham International Airport and national rail and motorway links, sold for £1,010,000 from a £495,000 guide price.
Gurpreet Bassi added: “The hard work and commitment of the Bond Wolfe Auctions staff throughout this difficult lockdown period has been awe-inspiring and they all deserve the success that they achieved.”
EYE questioned Bond Wolfe about the substantial differences between many of the guide prices and the actual sale prices.
The firm gave us this statement:
“The guide price for each property is an indication of the reserve price, being the minimum price the property can sell for.
“The reserve price is set within a bracket guide price or +10% of a single figure guide price.
“The extensive marketing campaign can generate significant interest in a property.
“This can create competitive bidding, with the property selling for way in excess of the guide price and the property will be sold for the maximum price someone is prepared to pay for it on the auction day.
“Guide prices were in line with those quoted in previous auctions.
“Demand was unprecedented, as the statistics reveal, and competition for each lot was fierce, hence the 98% success rate.”
Guide Price
vs
Sold Price
It’s not really an achievement to do better than a pathetic guide price is it?
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Espiaclly when the Sellers and auctioneers bid it up the actual reserve not the “10% above guide” Reserve
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The statistics are increbile
Average of 23.43 Regsitered Bidders for each lot & Each bidder only bids once!
25381 Phone calls Over a period of 6 weeks is on average 94 Calls an hour for each working hour or Alternitavely the auction Catalouge was only live for 2 weeks which is 10 Working Days so around 300 Calls an hour.
1000+ People did a virtual tour of each property on Average
3000 Registered Bidders but only 3231 Bids – thats an increbile conversion rate – just over one bid per registered bidder
Catalouge was Launched with 131 Lots – 3 Lots must have got lost
Now lets see over the next few month which of the “SOLD” lots end up back in this AUction or Mcugh and Co or any others with same seller
One Statistic forgotten is the amount of Fees The “Seller” has charged in the legal pack – regulalry 1000% more than the guide price.
The Online Auction has made it even easier for them the guide lots really low – set reserve really low but no issue with seller being a registered bidder on lot or the auctioneers for that matter
Have a check at there google reviews.
Lets wait for a whistle blower
Anyone is welcome to conact me to discuss it further
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Good Points
you forgot to mentions that in a lot of the lots, there is buyers fees from anywhere of 2%-4% with a minimum of about £4,000+vat
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Tottaly, the important issue is that some lots guided at £1000 have special condtion fees of £17,000
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I think a lot of companies have been doing online auctions for the first time with no physical viewings so I suppose its a bit of a learning curve for all.
However ‘fictional’ guide prices are my pet hate. Really low guides to generate interest that are never really tested as the ultimate selling price is always going to be way more. Advertising Standards Authority guidance has the reserve within +- 10% of guide.
Nowadays this seems to have gone out of the window.
Consequently you see a lot of inexperienced buyers thinking theyre actually going to buy at those fictional low levels.
Since the sales are still subject to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 I’d love to see Trading Standards take a few sample auctions and retrospectively verify whether the auction houses were actually authorised by the vendors to sell at those low levels. It would be interesting…
Since Im not local im not experienced enough to comment on this auction in particular ….but its a growing problem in the auction industry that wastes a lot of peoples time and money.
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“This can create competitive bidding, with the property selling for way in excess of the guide price and the property will be sold for the maximum price someone is prepared to pay for it on the auction day.”
Which, in no market anywhere on the planet, would be 7.48 times the price quoted as it would appear to have in Sheldon.
Or four times the pricetag. Or three, for that matter
Or ‘double-and-a-bit’ – if you’re expecting to snaffle something up for a cool half-million or thereabouts, you certainly don’t expect to chuck in the same again to win on the day.
Time to ‘fess up, Mr Bassi – your ‘Guide prices’ are nothing but clickbait.
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Clickbait is a nice way of putting it. After the 7.48 times the price quoted you have all the speical conditions fees to pay
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There is a smell of something here – and it isn’t the smell of ‘success’.
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