Motel sells online

IT’S taken some time for sceptics to purchase a pair of shoes or even a car online, but the scope for internet purchasing reached new heights this week when Yamba’s Surf Motel sold at an online real estate auction for just under $2 million and above the reserve price.

Bidders from Armidale, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Western Australia and Brisbane converged not in the foyer of the motel, but through their PCs in the comfort of their home on Monday morning to battle it out for the prestigious eight-room motel.

There was no auction room jitters, no excuses not to show up and bidders had 10 days to watch and monitor the auction process.

One serious bidder was able to continue a holiday in Western Australia and not have to fly across the country to take part in the action.

David Scholes, director of the company responsible for this remote transaction, Soldonline.com.au, said online auctions were a good solution for buyers to combat the tyranny of distance.

“We’ve looked at some of the pitfalls of physical auctions such as the right for a bidder to retract their offer, dummy bidding and a lack of transparency regarding reserves and (we’ve) done away with them,” Mr Scholes said.

“There’s a two-step bidding process so mistakes can’t be made.”

All properties are listed by an agent, with Soldonline.com.au taking an auction fee comparable with Sydney auction prices and the agent still takes their cut.

Local Elders agent Mike Harvey agreed it was “electronic reality” that would see online real estate auctions becoming a part of our future.

“I hadn’t heard about it until this property was selling online and I see it as another handy marketing tool for some properties,” Mr Harvey said, adding there was not the pressure of an onsite auction.

“We are interested enough to have since registered Elders with Soldonline,” he said.

He said that this week’s sale was a good price in a local market that was not experiencing “much action” at the moment on properties valued at more than $500,000.

The owner of the Surf Motel for the past 20 years, Jan Dampney, said he was happy with the price fetched this week and can now concentrate on retirement.

“We did have it listed locally for about two years, but it was suggested that we try an online auction,” he said.

“We listed it online on July 10 and it went to auction on August 13 for a 10-day auction.”

A former auctioneer himself, Mr Dampney said that the online concept was very good and opened up properties to a much wider spectrum, including overseas buyers.