Collaboration the key for new auctioneer

Jennifer Russell says auctions are a fair and transparent way of marketing a property.

As she prepares to call her first auction, real estate agent Jennifer Russell says more Whanganui people should consider selling their properties by this method.

"A lot of properties here are selling under multi-offer so I believe we really need to grasp the auction process in Whanganui," Mrs Russell said.

"It's not like in the old days when you'd have an auction because you had to sell due to a divorce or death or mortgagee issue. Now it's about getting the best price possible in a shorter time frame.

"It's a fair way of marketing a property and is about being transparent and fair to all parties. An auction is a collaboration between the seller, the marketing agent and the auctioneer. An auction is not about calling out numbers as fast as you can - you need to understand marketing."

Mrs Russell owns The Property Place which has its head office in New Plymouth. She works as a floating manager and is based in the company's Whanganui office in Glasgow St three or four days a week.

A licensed real estate agent since 1989, Mrs Russell has achieved her long-time dream of becoming an auctioneer.

"I've always had a passion for real estate and my goal was to start calling auctions.

"It took until 2017 to achieve that goal, mainly because of the busyness of the industry and being a business owner. In the middle of this year I did my training and came away with huge knowledge of how the behind-the-scenes process of an auction works."

Mrs Russell now has the first property for auction on her books and, unless it sells beforehand, she will be calling her first auction on site on December 9.

"Because it's been such a long time coming to achieve this goal, I'm really excited. I'm working together with the salesperson throughout the process and they will be alongside me at the auction."

Mrs Russell is planning to run an auction information evening for the public in the near future.