Beware of Auctions at Lake Oconee
Auction! People see the word and immediately think deal! It brings thousands of people to the lake hunting for deals. When an auction flyer comes in the mail at their home, I start receiving hundreds of calls asking me my thoughts.
This weekend I received a call from a lady that was attending an auction at Lake Oconee, so I decided to attend. Usually the sad fact is people do not know the questions to ask to represent themselves and 9 times out 10 get a property that they can’t resale for what they have in it. The truth of matter is, if I had this property listed on the MLS it would sit for years!
When I asked the salesman at the office to show me comps, he pulled gated golf community properties which really upset me because these are not even comparable. The gated golf communities have security, club houses, swimming pool and tennis and golf to offer.
Usually the minimum square footage of homes on some of these off-water lots is around 1600 sq. ft. This can hurt the value of the homes built on the water. Many times, what you see at the auction, such as impressive entrance, nice landscaping and new roads, is not maintained after the sale. This too, hurts property values.
After the sale, I am the one that gets a call from the buyer that wants to relist and usually I can’t even get him half of what he paid. For example, a few weeks ago, I had a gentleman call who had purchased property for $60,000 at one of these lake auctions and I had to tell him that he would be lucky to get $10,000 for the property.
There is an ole saying,” If it looks too good to be true it usually is”
Some people do not feel bad for the person that rushes to these auctions hunting for a deal. I always say if you attach the word auction to a property then it will move the property, deal or not. The buyers are trusting the salesman at the auction to be truthful to them and many times they do not know the compatibles around the lake. They think the auction rep will watch their back and unfortunately they do not. The truth of the matter I could of showed them like properties cheaper and know what questions to ask to represent my client to make sure he does not over pay for the property.
If you want an agent to represent call the best at Lake Oconee. Call Kim and Lin Logan with Keller Williams Lake Oconee Find why we are the top agents at Lake Oconee. www.kimandlinlogan.com (706) 338-0757.
