Unlike many auctioneer companies, North American Auctioneers auctions only real estate. Michael says "stick what you know", and as a realtor since 1989, a certified Real Estate auctioneer and one of only four in Accredited Real Estate Auctioneers in Canada, Michael knows Real Estate.
Only North American Auctioneers has a system of selling real estate quickly with the safeguards buyers and sellers expect with conventional real estate brokerages.
The system helps agents in several ways. When a property doesn't sell, the agent could lose the listing when it expires and not have anything to show for their work. Working with North American Auctioneers means agents representing sellers "are paid quite will, earning a percentage of what we get," he says. "Agents who represent buyers register their buyers and are paid referral fees."
The company has sold properties that have been on the market for years (in one case 12 years) and has sold them within weeks, with quick closings and for close to listing price, he says.
For example, a four-bedroom house was for sale in Byron, Ont. for eight months before it was registered with North American Auctioneers. "About 40 signs were put up everywhere. You couldn't enter Byron without seeing a sign," he says. The company's goal is to attract as many bidders as possible for each property. Within 10 days it was sold, it closed in about two weeks and the sale price was within a couple of thousand dollars of what the sellers wanted, Marienwald says.
