Went to an auction today, just for the hell of it. Was interested to see what the demand would be. House is in a very good suburb, good location etc all the essential things going for it.
There was about 30-40 people who turned up. I scanned the crowd for real buyers vs just sticky beaks. I estimated there might be 2-3 possible bidders. So anyway, the auctioneer rambles on for 10 mins about the rules and contract, then rambles for another 10 mins about how great the place is, the location, how the market is picking up again (usual RA bullsh*t), how they've had "amazing interest" in the property....5 more mins of waffle. All this time i'm thinking FFS, just get on with it.
So he eventually starts the auction asking for an opening bid and there's dead silence. He rambles on a bit more until he just gives up and puts in a vendor bid of 1.3 Mill. That figure just blew everyone's socks off! Then he asks for rises of 10K but gets more dead silence. Once he realises no one is going to bid, he goes back into the house to have a chat with the owner. He comes back out after 30 seconds almost pleading for any bid. It was as if the first vendor bid never happened. A minute passes and he passes in the auction.
Quickest auction and one of the silliest i've ever witnessed.