There are many benefits to selling your house at auction as opposed to taking the traditional route. You will sell your house faster. You will know the exact date of closing in advance. You will totally avoid the inconvenience of negotiating, open houses, and dealing with window shoppers who have no intention of submitting an offer. And because serious buyers will compete against one another to submit the winning bid, you can actually auction off your house for higher than its market value.
While selling at auction does allow you to skip open houses, you cannot sell your house sight unseen. Bidders will go through and examine your house just prior to the auction. Creating favorable impressions among them is paramount to securing a surprisingly high winning bid, which means you have every incentive to prepare your property for auction.
Getting your house ready for bidders’ arrival is a straightforward process. Just follow our expert tips – the effort you put in today will have a marked positive effect on your future ROI!
Make Minor Repairs
Most sellers don’t make major repairs to their homes before selling them at auction. If your house needs a new roof or HVAC system, then it’s up to the winning bidder to see that it receives one.
Minor repairs are a different story. The small effort and cost that go into making them can have a huge impact on bidders, who notice and appreciate when a house appears to have been well maintained. Before the auction day arrives, take care to ensure that:
- Blinds are functional
- Faucets aren’t leaking
- Doors are closing properly
- Electrical outlets are covered
- Cracks and holes in walls are fixed
Any other similarly simple home repairs are worthy of your time and energy. If it’s an eyesore or an inconvenience, it will not serve your purposes on auction day.
Declutter & Clean
Just seeing clutter can cause stress and anxiety – emotions you don’t want bidders to feel while they’re considering making a major purchase. If you see anything in your home that would be better off in a dumpster, inside a storage unit, or neatly boxed up in your garage or basement, make sure to relocate it before bidders arrive to check things out.
Dirty spaces have similarly negative effects on mental health. If it has been some time since you deep-cleaned your house, make the week leading up to the auction the last time you do it.
Depersonalize
Buyers like to imagine themselves living in a house before submitting bids on it. They have a more difficult time doing so when they are surrounded by reminders that someone has lived in the house before them.
We don’t recommend totally sterilizing your house before selling it at auction. Its interesting features are among its strongest selling points. But if your house includes prominent features which are appealing to you – but not necessarily others – then removing them prior to auction is essential. This includes:
- Repainting walls to neutral colors. Note that lighter colors make rooms appear more spacious.
- Removing distinctive decor. Holiday decorations, family photos, sports memorabilia, hunting trophies and religious art should all go in storage.
- Removing distinctive furniture and other features. Do you have a brightly colored area rug? A bold set of curtains? A chair or sofa that dominates the room with its presence? Put it in storage right alongside your distinctive decor.
Sell Your House With Colorado Premier Realty & Auction Services
If you would like to sell your property at auction in the greater Denver, CO area, then Colorado Premier Realty & Auction Services is standing by to secure your best outcome. Our complete auction services include property appraisal, marketing and auction hosting, and we can also hold an estate auction which totally liquidates all the property inside your house. Contact us today for the quickest and easiest solution to auctioning off your property!