Newcastle retail property sold via online auction

A mixed use commercial building on Darby Street is the first property ever to have sold in Newcastle through an online auction.

There were three registered bidders competing for the property and another four bystanders watching the auction online for the office building at 126 Darby St Cooks Hill.

The holding that comes with retail space sold for $2.25 million, exceeding the vendor’s expectations.

This two storey Darby Street property has an annual return of $144,846 from three tenants including a long-standing dry cleaner, a kebab shop and a beautician on the first floor.

Listing agent, Steven Dick Director of Raine & Horne Commercial Newcastle believed this result proves that online under the hammer sales will turn the auction process on its head in Newcastle.

“Bidders have to download the 'Openn Negotiation' app, pre-register and execute documents in terms suitable to the owner and then place a bid at any time before the final bidding stage,” Mr Dick said.

Buyers anywhere in the world with internet access can start bidding (pictured below is the interface).

Mr Dick noted, “there’s no more having to attend a stress-filled auction room, no more having the eyes of the audience upon you, no more whispering as secret negotiations take place”

“Openn Negotiation provides an entirely transparent process with the sellers and buyers in total control and fully aware of what everyone else is bidding,” he commented.

Online auctions are the most exciting change to occur in real estate since the mobile phone and internet marketing, according to Mr Dick.

He excitedly said that, “online property auctions take real estate sales into the 21st Century by embracing the technologies that everyone has become accustomed to using.”

Raine & Horne Commercial Newcastle has three auctions set for September, with two to be sold via Openn Negotiation and one in-room.