EVES salesmen Isaac Jakobs, Jordan Sievwright have strong showing at REINZ National Real Estate Auctioneering Championships

Jordan Sievwright is a self-confessed “shy guy” - but give him the golden auction hammer and he roars into action.

The 28-year-old EVES auctioneer’s voice is loud, clear and precise.

“Auction day is the best day of work. It is always exciting to get a sale under the hammer.”

Sievwright, who had made the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand National Real Estate Auctioneering Championships Open Division finals for the second year in a row, said the championships were what any auctioneer strived to win. Auckland auctioneer Johnny Bright of Apollo Auctions NZ won the Open Division.

“It is always my goal to make the finals. That is the bar I set myself. I have worked hard to get to that level,” Siewvwright said.

Competition auctions and “real-life” auctions were a “completely different sport”, he said.

“If you can be a really good competition auctioneer, you have a good chance of becoming a really good auctioneer in everyday life.”

Sievwright said he remembered being “so nervous” to bring the hammer down on his first auction but had now called “a couple hundred” auctions.

“The part I love most is that you get to share in people’s excitement. You get to be the person who yells: “Sold’!”

Being a good negotiator was a big part of being a good auctioneer, he said.

“It is not as simple as just standing up there and calling an auction. There is an art to it.”

His top tips for selling a home at auction were to be prepared and “do your due diligence” before taking the home to market. That meant getting the appropriate documents together, such as the building report.

The next was to present the property “as best you can” and “listen to the market”.

Isaac Jakobs, 25, is yet to call his first auction but already has a national award under his property belt.

The aspiring auctioneer won the Rising Star Division in this year’s REINZ National Real Estate Auctioneering Championships.

Jakobs, who was also a licensed property salesman at Eves on Cameron, said it was “pretty cool” to have been recognised so early in his career.

“I feel very proud and humbled,” he said.

Competition auctioneering went above and beyond “the norm” with tricky property bids being thrown to test the auctioneer’s mathematical skills.

But he said the competition “set your roots” as an auctioneer. “If nothing else, it is proof of your ability and competence in the role.”

He hoped to become a good auctioneer - “one that makes people feel at ease”.

Eves auctioneer Grant Child had a tear in his eye for auctioneering competition winners. Photo / Alex Cairns

EVES auctioneer Grant Child, who has called more than 10,000 auctions in his more than 20-year career, said characteristics of a good auctioneer included being able to read body language, have fast and accurate calculations, knowing how to make people feel at ease, and bringing humour into it “but not turning it into a comedy show”.

Child said seeing Jakobs and Sievwright take top honours in the national championships brought a tear to his eye.

“I am so proud of them both for the time, effort, and energy they put into their training.”

The most difficult thing about competition auctioneering was the “obscure” numbers that get thrown at the auctioneers, with bids going up in $13,000 and $17,000 amounts, he said.

“It really puts them under pressure.”

Child said the number of properties selling under the hammer had dropped “significantly” in the last year, with stricter lending conditions and interest rates affecting buyers.

“When the market changes like that, people make a judgment call and they lost confidence in the auction process.”

But, he said, auction numbers were starting to pick up.

“We are seeing a return.”

OneRoof data showed 225 residential properties were listed for sale by auction in the Bay of Plenty in the six months to June - 132 were marked as sold, seven were marked as withdrawn, and 86 were still active.

That compared to 161 properties listed for sale by auction in the six months to December 31, 2022 - 149 were marked as sold, nine were marked as withdrawn, and three were still active.

Top tips for selling a home by auction:

1. Planning. Be prepared and “do your due diligence” before taking the home to market. That meant getting the appropriate documents together such as the building report.

2. Presentation. Present the property “as best you can”.

3. Listen to the market.

Source: EVES auctioneers

Zoe Hunter is an assistant news director covering business and property news for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She also writes for NZME’s regional business publication Money. Zoe has worked for NZME since 2017.