Apartment listed online with starting bid of $1
15.01.06 1.00pm
By Nicholas Moody
A $1 coin doesn't buy you much these days, but last week on TradeMe, it could have bought you an inner-city Auckland apartment.
A couple of mates took a gamble on selling their friend's 28sq m unit in Rutland St - with a reserve of just $1.
The 12th-floor apartment was advertised as being fully furnished, with a small balcony and views over the city, although it did not have a carpark.
The seller, Porchea Persh, told the Herald on Sunday he was acting as a broker for a friend who owned the apartment and wanted to sell up so he could re-invest the money elsewhere.
Bidding began strongly and by Thursday Mr Persh and a friend who was helping with the sale, Julian Ray, were confident of a good result.
"It's proved a point that there's no need for real estate agents. The market is so powerful with online auctioning," said Mr Ray.
The pair acknowledged they were taking a bit of a risk, but were confident they had devised a winning marketing ploy. "It's an interesting experiment. Once you put a price on something it limits the price but if you have a $1 reserve then the sky's the limit," said Mr Ray.
The auction received over 11,000 hits before it closed on Friday afternoon. But the crafty marketing plan didn't quite come off.
The pair had hoped the apartment would sell for up to $140,000, but the auction closed with a final price of $105,000. The successful buyer was listed only as "Frank" from Auckland.
Mr Persh admitted he was disappointed with the result. "At the beginning it took off and I expected it to go up more, but obviously at the end people lost interest."
He said the owner was "okay" with the sale, despite buying the apartment for $144,000 three years ago.
Martin Dunn, who specialises in Auckland city apartment sales, said he would have expected the apartment to sell for between $110,000 and $120,000.
But he warned that selling apartments without real estate agents was "extremely dangerous".
"I think they are playing with fire. Selling an apartment is much more complex than selling suburban real estate," he said.
15.01.06 1.00pm
By Nicholas Moody
A $1 coin doesn't buy you much these days, but last week on TradeMe, it could have bought you an inner-city Auckland apartment.
A couple of mates took a gamble on selling their friend's 28sq m unit in Rutland St - with a reserve of just $1.
The 12th-floor apartment was advertised as being fully furnished, with a small balcony and views over the city, although it did not have a carpark.
The seller, Porchea Persh, told the Herald on Sunday he was acting as a broker for a friend who owned the apartment and wanted to sell up so he could re-invest the money elsewhere.
Bidding began strongly and by Thursday Mr Persh and a friend who was helping with the sale, Julian Ray, were confident of a good result.
"It's proved a point that there's no need for real estate agents. The market is so powerful with online auctioning," said Mr Ray.
The pair acknowledged they were taking a bit of a risk, but were confident they had devised a winning marketing ploy. "It's an interesting experiment. Once you put a price on something it limits the price but if you have a $1 reserve then the sky's the limit," said Mr Ray.
The auction received over 11,000 hits before it closed on Friday afternoon. But the crafty marketing plan didn't quite come off.
The pair had hoped the apartment would sell for up to $140,000, but the auction closed with a final price of $105,000. The successful buyer was listed only as "Frank" from Auckland.
Mr Persh admitted he was disappointed with the result. "At the beginning it took off and I expected it to go up more, but obviously at the end people lost interest."
He said the owner was "okay" with the sale, despite buying the apartment for $144,000 three years ago.
Martin Dunn, who specialises in Auckland city apartment sales, said he would have expected the apartment to sell for between $110,000 and $120,000.
But he warned that selling apartments without real estate agents was "extremely dangerous".
"I think they are playing with fire. Selling an apartment is much more complex than selling suburban real estate," he said.
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