Offices Link to Bolster Auction Result

21 May 2012 - Simon Parker from http://www.rebonline.com.au

An auction campaign which involved 15 agency offices linking together to help bolster awareness amongst potential buyers resulted in 22 properties being sold in one week.

Raine & Horne’s Auction Advantage+ programme involved the successful auction of 22 properties in Sydney’s inner west between 5 and 12 May, 2012.

“It is Raine & Horne’s biggest auction campaign in 2012 that is a concentrated on a single region, and is a first for Sydney’s inner west,” said Angus Raine, CEO, Raine & Horne.

“By pooling the resources of the 15-strong office network in the region, we have been able to deliver some excellent value to sellers.”

Michael Smith, principal of Raine & Horne Marrickville, said the campaign helped promote the auctions.

“As a result of our scale, our sellers have received more bang for their buck and with the support of Raine & Horne head office, we’ve been able to deliver our vendors 60 per cent more advertising coverage across the print and online media,” he said.

Gerard Hill, principal of Raine & Horne Newtown, agreed.

Mr Hill told Real Estate Business that vendors obtained better value for their marketing dollar, as the group, with some assistance from head office, was able to pool their resources to get more space in local property publications, including the Domain section of The Sydney Morning Herald.

He said the first Tuesday of the campaign saw the group take out around a third of the space in Domain, which helped direct potential buyers to the network.

“Buyers were just looking at Raine & Horne,” he said.

Mr Hill, whose office recorded a 100 per cent clearance rate on Saturday from seven auctions, said he was confident the campaign helped generate premium prices.

“So successful has this collaboration proven to be, we already have another Raine & Horne Auction Advantage+ campaign scheduled to launch to coincide with the traditional spring selling market in September,” he said.

As part of its marketing push, Raine & Horne also launched the monthly booklet, &Homes Inner West in late 2011, which is being distributed through its office network, cafes and car wash outlets.

“&Homes Inner West showcases the latest listings, sales results, tips and tricks for homeowners and even the latest entertainment and lifestyle news,” Mr Hill said.

“It’s clearly proving such a hit that some of our competitors have copied it, however without the reach delivered by 15 offices across the region, they’ll find it difficult to replicate the success of our publication.”