 the virtual auctions? Is it something that, as you've said, you guys have sold more? So what are the advantages for the consumer and in them engaging in these auctions? Probably time and convenience. Just would like you to, you know, give us insights pre-COVID, how are things working and how has it impacted, how has COVID rather impacted your business? Well, COVID actually helped a lot to me. We were trying desperately to get our buyers as much and as quickly as we could. And it was taking us years and millions and millions to do so. COVID-19 did it for free in three months. It was very, very good. We managed to get our entire system and most of our entire clientele portfolio online within the first three months of COVID. So we've probably sold more properties online through our virtual auction platform, more online in the last 18 months than we have in the last 11 years. Sure. It's like how experts have been saying that, you know, a good businessman never weighs the crisis. So it was time to strike and really get them digitized. So I really want us to talk also about how or the advantages that you guys have seen, especially with the virtual auctions. Is it something that, as you've said, you guys have sold more? So what are the advantages for the consumer and in them engaging in these auctions? Probably time and convenience. If you trust the brand and you trust the technology, some of the biggest sales we've had, in fact, we auctioned off a 330-year-old wine farm that was sold online to a gentleman outside the country. Convenience is probably one time another. You can do a lot more instead of taking a couple of hours or three or four or five hours out of your day driving, going to a live auction, registering. You can now do it from the palm of your hand on your smartphone. And for some people who at heart, you know, love the auction field or love the spirit that auction has because auctions have become notorious, you know, for the lead auctioneer, you know, hitting, I forgot what you guys call it, but hitting that hammer, you know, and everybody clapping, you know, all of those beautiful things that I would call them beautiful because, you know, when you look and think of a traditional auction, you think this is absolutely amazing to see. Do you guys try and incorporate those things even on the online ones? Absolutely. It's all about the user experience. And, you know, the more fun people have, the more you engage with them, the longer they'll stay and the longer they'll be. The number one reason most people attend auctions is because they're fun. Nobody likes a dull, homeless, boring auctioneer. Whether you auction off wine farms or townhouses or commercial buildings or shopping malls, you know, it's a lot of money. And you need to look after the client. You need to be careful of your user experience and, you know, the more comfortable and the more engaging you can make your bidders feel, the longer they'll stay there. And let's talk about the ordinary Joe on the street. Who would want to be part of an auction and who would want to acquire property using auctions? How does one go about it? Because from the myths that already exist, people believe that auctions are for the wealthy and they are not for everybody. So would you say that it's something that everybody can engage in? Well, we had an auction today with about 30 properties that came under the hammer on the block. And we had everybody from the man in the streets to the high net worth individual, to the corporates, to the listed property fund. It was really a complete rainbow nation of bidders, so to speak, right across the floor. You know, whether it's a townhouse, commercial building, a farm, a game lodge, a shopping mall, there is literally something for everyone. It's not for the super wealthy. It is literally from everything. We had bids from 250,000 up to 100 million today. We're talking big amounts, but of course, we are talking property. So that that's the field that we play in. So let's talk a bit about the disadvantages of having it online. Are there any specific disadvantages that you have noted that you see that all? This is the biggest downfall of us having it online. Not actually. So we have your virtual auctions are online and both live at the same time. And we looked into it heavily when we bridged the gap or jumped off the bridge, so to speak, on level five, pretty much this time last year. They are no disadvantages. In fact, we've only benefited as a company as a real estate auction business over the last two years. We didn't see any detrimental issues at all. In fact, when weighing up the pros and cons, it was a huge benefit to us. Our target market is a lot bigger. It's a lot wider. You can literally reach anybody at the moment because everyone has a smartphone. Sure. And for you, what would you say denotes a successful auction, a successful auction process like how it starts all the way to the bidding as well as maybe the rounding up of maybe you now acquiring this asset that you have got in this case, the property? Successful auction, I would say it's the quality of your stock, the quality of your real estate, setting the reserves on auction very, very carefully. Make sure your sellers are realistic and attracting the market to your platform. You're only as good as your last auction, as most auctionists will always say. Having a very, very in-depth successful auction marketing campaign is absolutely critical. But as with any product, you must have the quality product at the right price and the market will dictate what that price will be. Yeah. No, definitely. Thank you so much for that insight. I will then just quickly jump to our social media interaction and also just ask you a quick question here, because once you have acquired a property and now you are in position of this property that you landed at an auction, would you rather, we asked this to our Facebook family, by the way, so we asked them, would you rather live next to a highway or have noisy neighbors? And we had Mikobi in Zani who says, she prefers noisy neighbors. She says, at least they'll play my playlist at some time and eventually they'll get tired, unlike traffic. And then Sonya says, she rather live next to a highway. So she has the exact opposite. She says she would rather live next to a highway because it ends up becoming white noise. I guess she gets used to it. And she says, noisy neighbors have irregular noise levels which go up and down and is disturbing. So if I were to pose the question to you, Jof, which one would you rather have? Noisy neighbors. You can always invite noisy neighbors over for a brie or a glass of wine or a beer. And you become kind of traffic. If you live next to the national N1 or the M1 in Johannesburg, that noise will never stop. Well, thank you so much for that. Thank you so much for all the love that we are receiving on social media. And as usual, those green hearts are coming in very quickly. As usual, we have Polina Nkosi who has come and said, you know, she's marking the register and saying good evening to everyone and giving us those green hearts. Thank you and keep the comments coming in. Keep your questions coming in. Jof is here to answer any questions that you might have around property auctions and any concerns, comments, please do send them to us so that we can filter them before we complete our conversation tonight. And if you just joined us, we are talking about how the pandemic has changed the property auction space. So Jof, I would like to now bring it home for the consumer and say, how does the process look if my office would like to start, you know, coming to auctions, you know, experiencing the whole process? What do I need to do? What's the documentation that I require? Do I need to have hard cash? How does the process work? Well, auctions are non-suspense. So you either need to have the cash in the bank or you need to have your bank manager holding your hand sitting next to you, mostly for real estate, which is what you need, a pre-approval. I would suggest go to the South African Institute Auctioneers website, which is Auctioneering.coza. All auctioneers have to be registered as a legal entity and everyone has listed their auctions there. So go there, have a look around, attend as many auctions as you can, watch as many as you can online, and just, you know, dip your foot in the water. And the more you attend, the more it is your field. And with regards to the documentation, so if my bank manager has approved, we've got a pre-approval from the bank in terms of the property, then we can then start the conversation, get the conversation going. Are there registration fees? Because it's important that our property buyers get to know these things, so registration fees, any possible ones that they should look out for if there is something or red flags that they should look against or guard against? On real estate auctions, you always have to have your finger documents at hand, whether you have them safe on your phone with a photograph, you must have proof of residence, you must have proof of ID, depending on the size of the auction, whether it's commercial real estate or smaller residential real estate, some auctioneers do charge a refundable registration fee, smaller auctioneers don't, but as long as you have your finger documents at hand, you are legally then allowed to bid. And with the red flags, what red flags do I look for? When do I know when to stop? Or when do I know that there's something fishy with this deal? And I need to start putting some breaks on it. When your wife fakes next to you, stop bidding. No, I'm kidding. I'll say no to your budget. I would put a figure in your head, add on one more bid, and then I would stop. You never want to overextend yourself, you need to be careful. Do your homework, speak to the auctioneer, download the conditions of sale, download the auction rules, download the auctioneers to pack on that particular asset, go to the viewing. You shouldn't bid on something that you haven't seen before, unless you are very, very rich or very rich or you're very emotional about the asset and you wanted it at no cost. Understand that auctions are footstool. There's no cooling off period for auctions. I would say phone the auctioneers, do your homework. It's like buying a car. You're not going to buy a car that you've never driven. You're not going to buy a car that you never sat in. It's the same for a house. It's a personal buy. It's an emotional buy. And you really need to get your fingers under the carpet, so to speak. Get them dirty and have a look around and do your homework. You just mentioned something there and you said cooling off period. Can you please just explain that? Because one of the questions that we have is that what happens once your bid has been accepted? Do you then walk out there with the keys and walk straight into the house? What is the process and what does the cooling off period entail? Well, there is a normal cooling off period with the said agents. There is not that period on auctions. Once they have it false, the property is literally yours. Sometimes, most cases with corporate and private auctioneers and professional auctioneers, there is a confirmation period of anything between five and 14 days, where the buyer and seller, particularly the seller, will either consider your bid or confirm it as quickly as possible. It's the normal process that one would handle with a professional estate agent, except that the sales process is a lot faster. What a professional estate agent could do in six months, an auctioneer will literally do in 60 seconds. It's a lot faster. However, the process of how you register, how you would submit your bid, whether it's in writing, which is technically a bid, or whether it's verbally, is exactly the same. It's just a lot faster with an auctioneer. Once again, make sure you don't overextend yourself. It is exactly the same process. After confirmation of your bid, all the paperwork and the documentation does go to a conveyance. You would then have your deposits paid. The balance of the deposits would be payable on registration of transfer. Obviously, before that, you would apply for your clearances. It is a normal property transfer transaction, other than the fact it's on steroids. It is definitely on steroids. One of the myths that surround auctions is that the property is not wanted. They're unwanted children. This might not be so true. I want you to Google that myth tonight and tell the people why you believe that this is not the case. Many people believe that auction property is property that people didn't want. We were just talking about deceased estates last night. They think that it's unwanted property. You said it's footstooled, so you take it as is. People believe normally that I'd rather not go to an auction. Do you believe that this is true, or there's some element of truth in this? If you've got an opposing point, you can mention it. It's an old legacy that auctioneers and auction professionals have carried around for decades, and it's probably because of the share of auctions which are held for legal protocols and for legal process. It's absolutely not the case. The legacy will always be there, but you must understand, out of the five, 600 auctions a year that we conduct, 95% of all of those are private instructions, private individuals like yourself, corporates, listed property funds, REITs, and very wealthy trusts. We don't necessarily focus on legal auctions. They are auctioneers that you, but it's a case of would you rather have one buyer giving you one bid or one price for your assets, or would you rather fill a room with 50 or 100 buyers create competitive bidding? The bid always ascends, it never descends, and your price goes up. That's the difference on an auction. Very informative. So I really just want to also speak about this, because then here's myself, and I have this beautiful wine farmer would like to auction off somewhere in the French Hook. I want to know, how do I know that an auctioneer is legitimate? I mean, knowing High Street Auction Company and its legitimacy, knowing that it's been there for years, how do we know? There's a lot of scammers, there's a lot of chance takers. How does one know if they would like to put a property up for auction? How do they know that this is legit and they are not going to be done in? I think with any industry, they are rogue elements involved. It's difficult not to have them, but in any industry you have them, make sure they have a FFC, Fidelity Fund certificate, make sure they are members of the State Jersey Affairs Board, or in this case, the new property practitioners, guys that have just come out and just been formed, make sure they are members of the South African Institute of Auctioneers, or SIA. If you don't see those accreditation, if you don't see those stamps, beware. I wouldn't touch them with a barge fault. You must have a professional, licensed, experienced auctioneer, and now it is law. You have to have that as per the New Consumer Protection Act. It's both for your protection and for ours. And that protection is very important. And we've spoken to both the, well, we've spoken rather to the process, if I want to buy a house from an auction. And if I want to, and I've already ascertained that the person I want to, the auctioneer is legit, what do I need to ensure that I get the house on the market and get it sold via auction? I would say professionalism. See how long the auction company's been around. Look at their results. Look at their memberships. You know, if you're unsure, just log on to the SIA website, log on to the EWAB website. Do a Google search. If there are any bad elements or rogue elements about that specific individual or auctioneer, it'll pop up. But professional accreditations and professional memberships are absolutely crucial for the credibility of both your assets, as well as the potential sale. But now this is in the context of me actually selling the property. What documentation do I need that I will present to the auctioneer to say, this is the wine farm I was talking about earlier, and I would like to sell it. I would like to put it on auction. Is there specific documentation, proof of, of ownerships, and, and any other documentation that I would need to show that the property, first of all, is mine. And then I have the right to send it. Well, most, most importantly, on a wine farm, you probably start the discussion of a good bottle of wine somewhere in the community. Over a long afternoon, they install a bunch. No, obviously, title deeds are the most important, proof of ownership, which, which most all auctioneers, and in this case, estate agents as well, will be able to find on their systems, proof of ownership, the history of, of that piece of real estate, in this case, the history of the wine farm. And then you'd go into a lot more detail, the viticulture of the vines, how old the vines are, the type of soil, water rights, you know, the list goes on and on and on. If you're talking about commercial assets or commercial real estate, you want to see the leases. You want to see the length of the leases. Are there triple net leases? You'd want to see the plans of the building. If it's just a residential property or your own house, once again, you want to see those title deeds. You want to see the SG diagrams. Also want to see the plans of the property, utility bill. You want to see rates and taxes bills. Find out how much you pay. Are there rear rates and taxes? Is there an issue with the building? All of those types of descriptions and features on any real estate asset is what you want. The bigger the quantum on the property is usually indicative of how much administration or paperwork you would need on it. Obviously a townhouse or residential winehouse is a lot simpler, a lot easier to auction. The more complicated ones, retail, shopping malls, buildings, wine farms, it does tend to get more complicated and your due diligence pack is a lot bigger. All right. Thank you so much. So much insight from the conversation tonight. And I'm sure everybody who is watching is already starting to start that appetite, start going to those auctions and just for the experience. And I absolutely love the fact that you guys can now have them online. So it's accessible to everyone and to all categories of customers. Thank you so much for joining us tonight, Joff, and have a pleasant evening. Absolute pleasure. Thanks for having us. Thank you so much. The conversation was extremely robust and I'm sure that everybody to who was watching us tonight has learned a thing or two. I know that I'm taking away good nuggets of how to go into this space and how the pandemic has really changed. It's made it accessible to all of us and we can even as a joe and everybody working on the streets, you can actually start taking up that option to buy and get and acquire property. Thank you so much for joining us for tonight's podcast episode. It was absolutely informative and until we see you again tomorrow as we talk mortgage bonds and how consumers can save money right here on the private property podcast on the Facebook page. 7 p.m. Make sure you don't miss it. Put your reminders now and make sure that you are here. Thank you so much for also joining us on the Twitter spaces. We really, really appreciate you. Have a good evening. Thank you so much.