Damien Cooley

Sometimes it can be at a really low number just to get people comfortable to place a bid.

And it's almost used as a number that's enticing people to bid above.

To the contrary, if there's a scenario where we only have one registered bidder, we might use that Vendor bid at a higher number and use that as a positioning tool.

So to try and get it closer to either closer to where we need to be to sell or even at the price we need to be to sell.

So we're seeing more of that.

What we are also seeing though, Craig, is that once we do get a bid, it feels a lot easier to get more bids after that.

There's a lot of people questioning, is the market going to tank?

And when they question is the market going to tank, they're nervous about starting the bidding.

So we're seeing a lot less aggressive bidding tactics

and we're seeing more conservative bidding tactics at auction.

But that's the auctioneer's role, to establish a floor price and to get buyers bidding.

And the best thing for any owner to see, which is what we always say to buyers, the best thing you can do is actually bid.

Because all the owners, they understand the market isn't as good as it was.

They know that.

What the owner needs to see is they need to see competition so they can, in their own mind, justify saying yes to a price that may not necessarily be the price they first thought they'd get.

I think the way that I run an auction is very conversational.

I think people just appreciate things, understanding what is happening.

You know, for me, it doesn't matter whether the market's booming, whether it's not going well.

I think the most important thing to do is to sell it how it is.

and explain to people the psychology in many respects behind an owner's decision to sell a property and the psychology behind someone's decision to buy.