Auctioneer Booed!

by Peter Mericka B.A., LL.B Real Estate Lawyer and Qualified Practising Conveyancer Victoria Lawyers Real Estate

 

Consumers are starting to wake up! Finally the market has turned on an auctioneer, and refused to be manipulated.

Although it was tucked away on page 5 of yesterday's Sunday Herald-Sun newspaper (Sunday Herald-Sun p.5 4 March, 2007), this small article, titled "Auction booed", indicates that consumers are growing tired of the artificial manipulation of the the real estate market. The article describes how a crowd of approximately 200 people booed Biggin & Scott Real Estate Director/Auctioneer Guy St. Leger when he attempted to dictate terms.

According to the article,

"The weatherboard house at 6 Errol St was on the market at $1.1 million. Shortly before it reached its sale price of $1.6 million, one bidder offered a $1000 rise. Auctioneer Guy St Leger of Biggin & Scott refused to accept the bid, saying he would take only $5000 increments. 'The entire crowd of 200 people booed him,' an onlooker said."

The article concludes,

"In the end Mr. St Leger felt obliged to accept the $1,000 bid."

We have long argued that real estate auctions are scams, and that they are regularly used by estate agents as means to manipulate and condition. Dummy bidding and improper interference with the bidding process are just two examples of improper conduct associated with auctions.

In some cases auctions are used as a vehicle for outright criminal deception.

While it is unlikely that a criminal offence has been committed in this case, it is misleading and deceptive for a person who has a degree of control over a sale to assert that he is somehow entitled to require that indivuduals increase their bids.

Let's examine the way estate agents and auctioneers use auctions as a tool of manipulation.

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