Yes! Land is sold online and is safe, powerful, and real! Online land auctions have many benefits when compared to a traditional live (in-person) auction for both bidders and sellers!
I’m an online auctioneer and land broker with DreamDirt Farm and Ranch Real Estate, LLC. We have been doing online land auctions for about 10 years now! DreamDirt was the pioneer of moving land auctions online. Unlike other real estate and auction companies who are just now adding online bidding to their services.
Yes! We still conduct traditional live auctions; however, there are so many benefits for you as a seller if you decide to sell online only. Here’s why:
1. Place bids and view the auction from anywhere!
Instead of showing up to a community building, church, or office on auction day, bidders and sellers can view the auction from their phone, laptop, tablet. Anywhere at any time!
A live auction is set for a particular day and time. With an online auction, the bidding is open for roughly 30-45 days and bidding can happen at any time up until the time runs out.
Imagine bidding on a farm while watching your kids’ sports game, or sitting at home from the comfort of your couch. This is so helpful to bidders and in the end benefits you as a seller since it doesn’t limit a buyer to taking time out of their day to show up on auction day in-person to raise their hand and bid.
Online auctions are the safest way for people to bid and sellers to watch auctions. This keeps everyone healthy, and off the roads during winter weather when farmland in Iowa is commonly sold. If you are an absentee landowner this is a great way for you to still be a part of your auction. I enjoy being on the phone or video call with my sellers the last half hour of their online auction to answer any questions they have and seeing their reaction when the bids come in online!
2. Mitigate Social Pressures
Picture this – you are a farmer walking in to the live bidding location, you see other neighboring farmers, your banker, the family members of the farm, tenant, and other people you are around every day. The friction and stress you would feel I would imagine would be very uncomfortable. Would you be nervous bidding against a tenant or family member? Would you bid to your full potential? Probably not.
As an online auctioneer, I work for you as the seller. When you decide to use an online auction, you take away those social pressures’ bidders would face in a room full of people. Instead, your online land auction can help you achieve top dollar because bidders often say they can’t quit hitting the bid button since names remain anonymous and they feel more comfortable bidding from their home by themselves without the pressure of others watching.
3. Reduced Fees and Commission
Online land auctions can help sellers save money on commission compared to traditional live auctions. You will be able to save money by not paying for a venue, refreshments, printed material, ring man labor, and/or travel expenses for the auction company. When comparing land auction companies, ask what they charge for both live or online auctions. Be aware of any hidden fees for traditional live auctions some companies might hide!
4. Speed and Urgency
Some might claim a live auction creates an up-beat atmosphere that bidders actually enjoy more. I disagree with this especially due to the social pressures they feel which I covered in benefit #2.
With an online land auction, you can watch the bidding increase as the time ticks down. The online auctions I help conduct are typically are set up so bidding happens over a span of 30-45 days up till auction day, which ends at 2pm during a week day. Many times, bidders want to beat the clock on an online auction and get their high bid in ahead of time which creates the sense of speed and urgency. If a bidder tries to bid the last second, our bidding software extends for 2 more minutes to give everyone a fair chance to bid one more time until the time runs out and no more bids have been placed.
5. Are online bidders real?
You might be wondering if the bidders online are real and the answer is yes! With our online bidding software, I call them as soon as they register to make sure they are approved to bid on your farm! I also still help bidders who don’t use technology, bid over the phone and keep them up to date with the online bids coming in.
As an online land auctioneer, I understand how bidders react to the time ticking down and when to reduce bidding increments to mimic a live auction. As bidding increase, the bidding increments get smaller to encourage bidders to keep placing bids resulting in powerful sold results.
Go to bid.dreamdirt.com to see all of our current and past online land auctions. It’s very rare we have a live auction because of the benefits online land auctions provide. Past sellers have really enjoyed the process of having the convince of an online land auction.
If you’d like to see what your online land auction would like, message or call me today! I can send you a preview link which is private and we can discuss if an online auction is the right option for selling your farm.