A Vancouver company says it has launched Canada’s first-ever, multi-property virtual real estate auction series of exclusive West Coast homes.
The venture is a partnership between auctioneer Lambert Premier Auctions and lifestyle brand Luxury Alliance Group, which have created the Vancouver Luxury Real Estate Auction. Alec Lambert, CEO of Lambert Premier Auctions, says the online platform aims to stimulate luxury real estate sales in the Vancouver area and maximize each property’s exposure and value. He says it could “become part of our ‘new normal’ way of doing business. With our world-class digital platform, we’re positioned to maximize the exposure and value of a property and encourage buyers to act from the comfort and safety of their home.
Alec Lambert
“Plus, given our decade of auction experience and the level of interest so far from buyers, sellers and real estate agents, we’re confident we’ll deliver outstanding results for all our stakeholders over the course of the VLRA series.”
The team is currently working directly with sellers and agents throughout the Lower Mainland to preview properties valued between $3 million and $40 million for the inaugural auction series. The events will take place over the course of several months, starting this summer through to the fall. The first auction date is expected to be announced within the next few weeks.
Lambert says the VLRA process is transparent by allowing all bidders to see how much other participants are bidding in real-time.
“The whole premise of an auction and bringing buyers together for one event is to funnel them in and they compete for the product in an open format in a transparent way. When there’s competition for a product, they’re going to set the price and they’re going to compete with each other up until they decide they’re out and they’re not going to bid any higher,” he says. “People can participate in the online auction from anywhere in the world and that’s the real key here.”
With VLRA, any lead who visits the website and inquires gets access to the 3D virtual tours, real-time online viewings and in-depth home details with the Asset Disclosure Package. Any potential buyer that wishes to enter the auction will go through a thorough screening and qualifying process to gain exclusive access to the online auction platform.
“We’re going to operate it as an auction series between the summer and fall all the way up to probably November to handle the demand that we’ve been getting from the client base,” says Lambert. He says between four and eight luxury homes will be sold through the auction series.
“We want to make sure what we choose is good product and good clients who want to do good work. We have three solid ones in the hopper. We’re just sort of finalizing details on dates,” says Lambert.
For Realtors, he says, VLRA can bring an efficient outcome and sale to their listing.
“We’re a collaborative company with the real estate agents. They’re vital to the process and we team to really boost the marketing campaign and program. Put more eyes on their property and their other listings possibly,” says Lambert.
“It enables them to access a whole bunch of more tools for their tool kit. We bring in a strong marketing component that is devoted to each property, whereas their marketing campaigns spread across multiple listings. And they do a great job. But we’re sort of ultra-focused on a very few target properties. So we highlight those particular listings for them and they get a tremendous amount more traffic than ever before. The other listings get a lot more traffic too.”
Lambert says, “The auction format generates a buzz. It generates probably 30 to 40 times more interest than usual and we’ve time after time generated probably 40 times the traffic that they’re used to seeing for any one of the listings that we take. We have an aggressive marketing campaign and we have an aggressive budget and the auction does attract buyers.”
He says that an auction is a call to action. “As a buyer, are you in or are you out? You have to pre-qualify. It’s an unconditional offer. Realtors like that too because they don’t have to deal with closing up conditions on the transaction. Also, sometimes it is tricky for Realtors having to deal with multiple offers but the transparency in an auction handles that issue.”
Buyers, sellers and real estate agents can participate in by completing the limited engagement application form here.
Mario Toneguzzi is a contributing writer for REM. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald, covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He now works on his own as a freelance writer for several national publications and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Mario was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list.
