For sale now or auction on XX date?

Hi, I'm interested in learning why some properties are listed as being available for sale now or auction on a given date. The words "must be sold" are repeated a few times in the particular listing I'm looking at, so I guess the vendor is motivated to sell one way or another There is no price indicated.

From a seller's perspective, why would one choose to (or what are the pros and cons to) advertise in this manner vs:

1. List a price (eg. offers above $XX), or
2. List an auction date (and still be open to pre-auction offers without explicitly stating so).

From a buyer's perspective, what would be a good way to approach buying such a property? Try to buy before auction, or wait for auction?

An example to provide more context if that's necessary/useful - I'm looking at a detached single storey 3/1/1 house in suburban south side of Brisbane. There's nothing particularly stand-out about the house/property itself, and it is fairly comparable to a number of other houses on the same/nearby street. In fact, it is probably the lowest configuration, in so far as there are a few other 3/1/1's but the majority of other houses will have more bedrooms/bathrooms/garages. There are 5 townhouse complexes in the local area, all units being at least 3/2/1. The only fairly recent sales in the area are for townhouses, so for comparison a 3/2/1 double storey (on the same street as the house in question) and a 3/2/2 single storey (a few blocks away) have both sold this year for about $405k.

 

It suggests a finite day for the sale and hopefully creates some urgency for the purchaser.

 

Whenever we, as BA's, inspect a property that we want to buy, and the property is in an auction campaign, one of the first questions we ask the agent is: "Can this property be bought prior or is the vendor committed to the auction process?". I guess the advert above you refer to, avoids the selling agent having to answer the question all the time.

Sometimes properties can be purchased prior - for the right money (and it's our job to work out what the right money is). Other times is might be a deceased estate with warring beneficiaries, so the best way a selling agent wants to handle it, is to let it go to auction because it stops all the arguments. Other times, the vendor wants the highest price he/she can get and is happy to pay the auctioneer, advertising, sign board etc - so they want to go through to auction day rightly or wrongly - fair enough I suppose......and who could blame them in the current Sydney market where records are smashed almost every week-end?

 

Thanks for the input. Turns out (according to the agent) that this property sale is being handled by the children of the elderly owner, and because they can't agree on a price (presumably each having a stake in the proceeds), the "fairest" way is to let the property go to auction and "let the market decide". Due to this, and the short timeframe between listing and auction date, any pre-auction offers with typical inspection and/or finance clauses are unlikely to be accepted.