During the pandemic many agents turned to video conferencing to show the property to prospective buyers by doing live walk throughs of the property. They also used this technology to carry out live auctions, where people could bid on properties from the comfort of their own home.

The funnest thing about a traditional auction is watching all the prospective buyers battle it out to purchase the property (this may not be any fun for anyone bidding). One of the things that are somewhat obvious is the other bidders position, usually you can judge this by their body language or bidding, which allows you see where they are at and to plan your next move. e.g. if the bidding starts to reduce from $10,000 or $1,000 then you know they are getting close to their maximum budget.

What happens when you don’t see the other bidder? You don’t know what you are up against, you don’t know their position, you don’t know if they are reaching their budget limit. This makes it hard to to bid strategically.

Some agents use a tactic called ‘silent auction’, where they ask all prospective buyers to submit their offers by a certain time and the highest offer has the opportunity to purchase the property.

Here are 3 tips when participating in a silent auction